Socie-economic satire doesn’t come more savage — or relevant — than this audacious saga.
South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s new film is a heady blend of drama, real-world touchpoints, burlesque and — sometimes quite abruptly — macabre dark humor. Its arrival now is felicitously timely, at a moment when worldwide jobs in all social strata are being replaced by AI, leaving veritable armies of displaced and disgruntled people in its wake.
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| Having finally worked up the courage to confront his first target, Man-su (Lee Byung-hun, left) is startled when the pathetic Beom-mo (Lee Sung-min) fails to take him seriously. |
(Choi is a genuine cello talent. It shows.)
As a longstanding and highly respected employee of the papermaking company Solar — recipient, among other honors, of the “Pulp Man of the Year” award — Man-su is well-paid, and was able to purchase the beloved home in which he grew up. He has added an adjacent greenhouse, where he frequently pursues his hobby of bonsai crafting.
Life is good.
Until, suddenly, it isn’t. An American multinational buys Solar and abruptly fires much of the company workforce, including Man-su.
Although he vows to regain similar paper industry employment within three months, he has an inherent flaw. During interviews, he has no good response when asked to admit his “prime weakness” (an intriguing question that all business hiring entities should consider).
The additional, obvious problem is that he’s merely one of many similarly highly qualified former supervisors vying for the same rapidly dwindling job openings in this shrinking industry.
