Thursday, March 16, as part of an evening organized by the club 300, we were at the Forum des images to discover Tunnel, the latest film by South Korean director Kim Seong-hun. This film follows the momentum of its predecessor: Hard Day, with more than twice as much budget.
Tunnel : adaptation of the novel of the same name by So Jae-woo.
Is it based on a real fact?
The director told us during the Q&A after the screening, he may have been inspired by the sinking of the South Korean ferry: the sewol, in 2014. As a result of human negligence, the disaster caused more than 300 deaths and traumatized the entire Korean population.
A "Bankable" cast.
The main character of Lee Jung-so is played by the great Ha Jeong-woo seen recently in the fabulous movie "Mademoiselle" by Park Chan-Wook. We find in the role of the head of the first aid services: the talented Oh Dal-Su, also a strong link in the Park Chan-Wook team that can be found in his mythical film "Old boy". Doona Bae, the actress who makes us vibrate in the series Sense8 is also part of the party in the role of Lee Jung-so's wife.
A disaster film full of humor.
As Pythagoras wrote, "does not entertain the hope of what cannot be hoped for" is the whole question.
While Lee Jung-so was returning home to celebrate his little girl's birthday, he will find himself buried in his car by more than 180m of tunnel debris, following his landslide.
Will he make it? How will the relief workers, his family and the government go about helping him get there?
The scheme of the disaster film turns into an epic skilfully mixing anguish, nervous laughter and comic laughter. This beautiful emotional antithesis allows the viewer not to find the time long.
The director shared during the Q&A after the session, that this bias was due to the fact that he himself did not like horror movies.
He considers the humor in this film as a de-dramatizing element, he also gave us the beautiful metaphor of the piece of steak which, without fat would have no taste and would be too dry. Humor makes it possible to better pass "the pill".
An obvious criticism of Korean society.
As in Na Hong-jin's latest film: The Strangers, Kim Seong-hun's tragicomedy lets us observe many incompetent characters in the Korean rescue services. He offers a critique of South Korean society stifled by the media and alienation from new technologies to get by, but also of its corruption, insisting on the power of privileged money over the safety of human life.
A film full of inconsistencies.
Indeed, despite an increasingly developed technology, it seems that a phone battery can not last more than 17 days. The main character doesn't seem to be that thirsty and hungry for someone who finds himself stuck so many days in the dusty and cold atmosphere of the rubble.
Lee Jung-so's character certainly has a mind of steel, but what about his survival instinct? It seems that any human being would have tried to get out on their own.
Despite this, Kim Seong-hun's latest film is very promising for its photographic quality and comical fantasy.
Not to be missed as soon as it is released in France: May 3, 2017.
( a little teaser to make your mouth water)
Seneca would probably reply to Pythagoras : "It is when one has more hope that one must despair of nothing."
