“Ooh. Topless Korean boys. We have to catch this preview.”That, in essence, summed up my thoughts. I was having lunch break with my colleagues when my roving gay eyes caught the A0 sized poster for Fate. With those dreamy Korean eyes and lean bodies, I was smitten.
This is, of course, despite the fact that I knew it was a gangster movie, which is hardly my cup of tea. Every inch of my cranium was warning me against watching this movie. But oh, the boys, the boys. I had to see them, even if it meant brain damage.
I was conned. My brain was right. This is the last time I let my nether regions trump my head.
Let this be a warning – if you're watching this movie in the hope of glorious topless images that pay homage to the beauty of Korean male bodies, you're in for a very nasty surprise. The only chance one gets to perv at the bodies of the two leads, Song Seung Hun (Kim Woo Min) and Kwon Sang Woo (Chul Jong), is in a gritty 5 minute rugby sequence at the end.
Indeed, sex sells. However, this isn't to say that the movie is lacking in cinematographic merit.
The leads have put on an admirable performance as two polar opposites, proving their acting worth as Korea's rising stars. Kwong Sang Woo and Song Seung Hun have, admirably, reversed their usual roles, rising above the usual typecast roles that they have played.
Kwong Sang Woo breaks out of his soft-spoken image as Cheol Jung, an expletive-spewing villian. Comedic at times, while just plain temperamental at others, Kwong Sang Woo puts on such a natural performance, playing the hot-tempered Cheol Jung to great effect. It's hard not to warm up to this character with a sense of comic irony, who cares for his sister by day, and raids gambling dens by night, swearing all the way. If anything, you'll definitely learn a few Korean vulgarities from his lines, including the Korean word “Sheeba.”
Conversely, Song Seung Hun plays the scapegoat, Kim Woo Min, taking the rap and a two-year prison term in an effort to protect his lifelong friends. Managing emotional sensitivity in an action-laden plot like Fate is no mean feat, but Song Seung Hun manages to do so with grace and maturity.
Either that, or I'm just mesmerized. Casting good looking people has never worked better in Fate, and indeed, a handsome man can convey so many things on-screen more effectively.
The plot isn't very original of course. One has the usual back-stabbing emotional drama that is characteristic of such Asian gangster movies. It's the usual tension between brotherhood and camaraderie versus the more worldly temptations of money, power, and heroin.
Set behind a backdrop of absolute tragedy, the melodrama in this film is a bit much. Imagine watching a Hong Kong serial, replete with hysterical mothers, screaming girlfriends, and lots of crying. That, in essence, captures the emotional mood of Fate – absolutely wacko.
The script, itself, is filled with ridiculous lines as well. Woo Min utters lines like “don't be mistaken, I was never striving to attain happiness,” which just reeks of a self-aggrandizing and ennobling sort of brooding. Granted, something may have been lost in translation, but the sentiment is still quite ridiculous.Who is this script writer? How can happiness not be the aim of life? Does he mean to undo Aristotle's centuries of wisdom with a 2-hour Korean gangster movie?
Staunch non-smokers would not be pleased with this film either. I'm guessing that a large part of the budget came from buying smokes for the film – a cigarette is lit nearly every 5 minutes. Mother goes hysterical, lead smokes. Best friend tries to kill himself, lead smokes. Business not going well, lead smokes. Getting out of the car, lead also smokes.
And these are Marlboro cigarettes, at that.
Anyway, after I watched the movie, I left the cinema with two life lessons.
The first, is that one should listen to one's head, more so than one's dong.
The second, is that there are only two paths in life. One must be extremely smart, cunning, manipulative, and ruthless. Without appearing to be so.
If one can't be that, one should resign oneself to a life as a junkie. Because apparently, these are the only two characters that succeed in the world of Fate.
- Tim, Trevvy