Gangnam Blues is the first film to be released under the auspices of the SineAsia label, a partnership between SM and a local distributor that promises to bring tagalized versions of Asian films to theaters. It doesn’t really seem to be a prime candidate for translation, its narrative so deeply rooted in recent South Korean history that some details are probably lost in translation. The dubbing isn’t badly done at all, but the movie, with its sprawling scope and ties to very specific events in the development of Seoul, doesn’t seem to be served very well by the localization.
The film is set in 1970. Seoul has been growing rapidly, and is looking to expand. The powers-that-be have decided that the Gangnam region will be developed as an extension of the capital. Jong-dae and Yong-ki (Lee Min-ho and Kim Rae-won) are lifelong friends who have just been thrown out of the hovel they’ve been squatting in. The two are swept up in some political gang activity, and are separated in a violent encounter. Three years later, the two meet up again on opposite sides of a brewing war between two powerful forces looking to gain control of all the land earmarked for development. They decide to work together in secret to build a better future.
It’s a sprawling gangster tale that gets into surprising detail about the means by which these corrupt individuals took control of an entire region. There are a lot of moving parts to this story, with several different modus operandi laid out in depicting the acquisition of a bunch of land titles. It can actually be a little hard to follow, and the localization, which takes away some of the individuality of the performances, actually gets in the way. This is a ridiculously ambitious story, one that thrives in procedural details. While the translation seems to be decent, there’s still appears to be something lost in the long trip here.
The film’s tone is already all over the place. It is an overwrought melodrama that features strange pieces of comedy. As an example, the reason the two main characters are separated in the first place is because Yong-ki drank too much milk and had to go to the toilet. The movie will cut between the very serious business of a gang trashing a political headquarters and a shot of Yong-ki in a toilet stall, taking a dump. The film finds focus in the back half, going into full opera as it tightens the story around the tumultuous relationship between its two primaries and the inevitable tragedy that fate has in store for them.
The film benefits greatly from its look. It thrives on the period details and the grimy murk of the South Korean underworld. The film deprives the gangs here of all glamour, depicting them mostly as thugs forced to operate in the shadows, responding to the whims of the men who are truly in power. The acting all seems to be okay, though its hard to tell through the filter of the tagalization. Still, Lee Min-ho has a commanding presence, and Kim Rae-won sells his character’s ambition and growing desperation pretty well.
Gangnam Blues gets really entertaining in the back half, when the film isn’t so much about scheming anymore. The details of this plot get pretty hazy in the first half, as the film struggles to translate a multitude of plans and schemes that are tied deeply to the real history of Seoul. The film appears to be really smart, and its ambitions make for infectious cinema. But the version we’re getting is just a little tough to watch at times.
My Rating:
