The President's Last Bang

Dramatic event but narrated like ordinary life with a spoonful of comedy. I like 'The President's Last Bang' because it is comical. I know the history already, and the assassination of Park has been told in so many ways, and everytime it results to be super political while the work itself may not be. However, I do not like the narration part at the end being funny, light, and sarcastic as well. It goes overboard and decreases the whole quality of a movie. That narration sounds even condescending and patronizing toward the audience.

Another thing that makes me uncomfortable is how women are treated in that time period and in the movie as well. Unnecessary nude scenes and lines that degrade and shame women sexually come from women. I'm not sure if the director intended this or not, but it implies that men are blameless for how women are mistreated at that time because women put blame on each other.

My feeling on the overall direction of the Presidents Last Bang was that it was all done; it seemed to flow right along pretty well. Although it was not nearly as good of a film as Oldboy was. This film used many different ways of keeping you interested in the film. I also thought that it was interesting all the different locations they used, and the actors and wardrobe. Wow you can see how much work it took to make this film, almost every scene was so illustrated, it was amazing. One thing I noticed a lot of was the movie jumped a lot from one location to another, causing some confusion for myself at times. However I truly enjoyed this film mainly because of the actors. There were so many different actors, with different personalities, and a little horseplay that went along with the film. The lighting of this film, was well done as well, I wasn't so much impressed by that but just by the art of each scene that the director showed. If I had to rate this film, I would give it a 7. Because of all the work that went into making the film, the storyline was good, and the actors were great. The camera work was also neat. He used so many different angles and movements. It gave you a lot better quality. This also played into the production quality which was also great. This was a well done film. Props to the Director and his crew.

I saw this recently at the Toronto International Film Festival to a packed house with the director present. I liked it.

It comes across as a fictionalized account of the events leading up to the the 1979 president's assassination. It was believable, suspenseful, and occasionally funny, if you can imagine that! This was the work of someone who really cared to bring a defining historical moment into the modern psyche, to raise some important questions about Korean society.

In my mind, this is what movies should be about -- defining moments of time. And crafting a story that allows the viewer to be drawn into the circumstances, to be shown a view of how things may have happened without being dogmatic or overly judgmental. Kudos to the director to crafting an even-keeled drama that, I suspect is accessible to a large international audience.

The English-release title "The President's Last Bang" may sound like an artless literal translation of the original Korean, but I'm informed by those who speak the ancestral language (thanks, Mom and Dad) that "Geuddae geusaramdeul" actually means "The People of That Time," or, more concisely, "Those People, Then." It's a title that resonates deeply for South Koreans: On the night of October 26, 1979, shortly before he was assassinated, President Park Chung-hee was being entertained at dinner by a young singer named Shim Soo-bong, who had made a splash in a college singing contest with a song called "Geuddae geusaram" - literally, "That Person, Then." Shim reportedly sang that song to Park that fateful night; as a result, both she and the song became inextricably linked to the Park killing. Hence the movie title, "Those People, Then."

One of those "people then" was, of course, President Park, along with the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, Kim Jae-kyu, who led the assassins and who personally shot the president (and ended up being executed for it). As portrayed in this film, KCIA Director Kim is pent up with rage and frustration; his liver is shot to hell, he feels his country is shot to hell, and he's convinced that the president and his chief bodyguard both deserve to be shot to hell as well.

"The President's Last Bang" has been billed as a black comedy; some American reviewers have even likened it to Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove," which kind of threw me. I would say, it's a very wry take on a deadly serious episode of recent Korean history. I suspect much of it comes across as absurd because the real-life events it was based on were so horrifyingly absurd.

Deliberately, deliciously absurd moments abound, like the schoolchildren who refuse to stand still for the playing of the national anthem, but maybe some critics saw signs of comedy where none really exist (oh, those crazy Koreans!). For example, one reviewer was highly amused by what he saw as Kim's bungling when he supposedly runs out of bullets at the start of the assassination and must run outside to fetch another gun. Actually, Kim has plenty of bullets; it's just that his gun jammed. That's not ineptitude, just bad luck on his part.

Although the main focus of the film is the president and the KCIA director, it's also worth noting characters like gum-chewing KCIA Chief Agent Ju, whose primary job consists of procuring young women for the president's personal entertainment; his disgust with the task, with the women who agree to be a party to it, and with himself is palpable. There's also Mr. Shim, the guesthouse caretaker who's as silent as a butler and seemingly privy to everything that's going on. There's the older woman who's seen at the beginning of the film, lodging a complaint about the way her daughter was treated by the president during a bedroom date; we hear her again at the end of the film, offering a sardonic post-assassination wrapup (shades of Costa-Gavras' "Z"). And then there are the two young women, brought together for the first time, who are destined to witness the assassination close-up; afterward, they end up lounging around in a side room, chatting like college roommates.

From my peculiar American point of view, one wickedly fun moment is when Park and his top aides, chatting over dinner, start bad-mouthing not only the American ambassador to Seoul, but also then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter; such scenes crackle with a you-are-there authenticity. It's also morbidly fascinating to listen to the movie's Park Chung-hee rationalize his authoritarian rule by noting that he tolerates a certain degree of political opposition (there's a direct reference to Kim Young-sam, who was fated to become president himself years later).

As for the president's "last bang," fans of the late President Park may actually admire the way he goes out in this film. He shows no fear; he meets his fate as the tough old bird he was reputed to be.

A passing note: Whenever Korean subtitles appear, it's because the characters are speaking in Japanese (one of the fringe benefits of Japanese colonial rule being coerced bilingualism).

Final thought: Could the fractured-English title "The President's Last Bang" be a deliberate Borat-like joke on the part of a Korean who speaks English all too well?

I'm-Sang Soo's "President's Last Bang" is an awesome piece of cinema, a throwback to the paranoid political thrillers of the 70s like "The Conversation," "The Parallax View" and "All the President's Men."

The film revolves around the true story about an assassination attempt made on President Park Chun-hee and its aftermath.

Saw this at Telluride and was blown away by the pitch black comedy, Kim Woo-hyeong's incredible super 35mm cinematography, and the fluid tracking shots.

The director described this film as in the vein of "Goodfellas" and the "Godfather" trilogy.

For those who are fiending for more quality Korean cinema after "Oldboy," this is definitely worth seeking out.