Starring: Ahn Jae-Mo, Kang Seong-Jin, Park Sang-Myeon
Director: Lee Mu-Yeong
Studio: SRE Corporation
Rating: 18+
Genre: Drama
About This DVD
'The Humanists' is the debut movie of the director, Lee Moo-young, who has also
careered as a scenario writer, a pop columnist, and a reporter. Lee has played
four roles at the same time: as an actor, a director, a music director, and a
scenario writer. This movie definitely steps aside from the codes of previous
Korean movies.
The narrative seems like a script of all devilish news, having covered the
society section of our daily newspapers. Matthew (Ahn Jae-Mo), who is a son of a
wealthy retired general, made a plot for his friends to kidnap his father for
money even though he is handsome and has grown up with no economic difficulties.
However, his plan has gone astray with the wind.
The director Lee portrays the characters of the story with his unique sarcastic
style. Matthew is such a person who believes money is everything. From his early
ages, Matthew has learned and boned the lesson of the politics of money and the
magic power of money. He did whatever he could do to be exempted from military
draft. He believes that money could make him free even from the charge of police
murder. Euglena (Kang Sung-Jin) and Ameba (Park Sang-Myun), who became Matthew's
friends for his money, betrays the typical complex of modern people. While
Euglena who is a eunuch represents the impotence of modern people, Ameba who
injured his brain represents the ignorance of them.
Obsessed by the power will, the impotent Euglena always dreams a rebellion while
Ameba, who is possessed by servile spirits, blindly follows Matthew who
satisfies his desire.
Matthew's father (Park Young-Kyu), who plays the upstarts millionaire,
symbolizes the violent authoritarianism which is represented by the police and
army in the movie. The lured step-mother is a symbol of the adulterous, being a
parasite on the authoritarianism.
One more important point to note in this movie is its grotesque cultural codes.
Bitten by the police, the swollen Ameba drinks three bowls of water drippings.
Abruptly a beggar (Kim Myung-Su) appears, dragging his rotten legs covered with
maggots, and preaches "It's an evil to waste the precious time of our short life
for a bath."
It is probably a ridicule of the moderns who are pretending neat and clean but
in fact their insides are corrupted and giving off a terrible stink.
The director Lee seems to recognize that he himself is not free from the
criticism. He closes his movie with the final scene that a reporter, acted by
the director, hangs himself in a pig-cage.
The best virtue of this move is the selection of music. On the main spindle of
the music of an independent group 'Earbu Band,' such as 'Plowing Pigs,' 'A
lumber bridge' by the late Choi Moo-ryong, Nick Cave and the Badsis's 'Death Is
Not the End,' 'Connected' of Stereo MC, and trot, pops, even wraps tune into the
mood of the movie. His selection of music produced truly the best original sound
track among recent Korean movies.
| Audio Format: | DD 5.1 Surround |
| Video Format: | Widescreen 1.85:1 (LetterBox) |
| Languages: | Korean |
| Subtitles: | English |
| Country Made: | Korea |
| Region Code: | ALL |
| Year Made: | 2001 |
| Running Time: | 100 |
| Special Features: | Making Film, Two Music Videos, Interviews (Actors), Other Trailers, Theatrical Trailers, Cast and Crews, EPK, Two TV Spots, Scene Selections |
| Availability: | Unavailable. |
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