YONHAP NEWS

(Movie Review) Pacey, rich in detail, art scandal movie leaves final regrets

By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, April 16 (Yonhap) -- As the end credits of "Insandong Scandal" roll, you'll realize you haven't even had a chance to assess whether you were entertained or not, so overwhelming are the speed and the breathless incoherence of the film.

With a multiplicity of disparate elements jammed into a running time of just over 100 minutes, the creators of this frenetic crime movie should first be applauded for not choosing your run-of-the-mill backdrop.

   Titled after the South Korean neighborhood of art dealers and galleries, the film is full of details that indicate the filmmaker did his research beforehand and also shows off a refined cinematography worthy of any Hollywood action film.

   Tae-jin (Uhm Jung-hwa) -- an attractive art dealer and a dominant force on the streets of Insadong with her instinct for money-making artworks -- stumbles upon "Byeokando," a long-lost masterpiece by Korea's ancient Joseon Dynasty painter An Gyeon.

   Looking at some tens of billions of won, or tens of millions of dollars, for the painting, Tae-jin hires Gang-jun (Kim Rae-won), a talented yet dangerous art restoration expert, to repair the ancient painting.

   Seoul's art street begins to rumble, however, with several greedy eyes on the masterpiece and police sniffing something fishy about the whole restoration process.

As the first South Korean film on art restoration, replication and forgery, "Insadong…" is full of rich details on what really goes on inside the local art world.

   Stolen pieces show up on the black market, the country's most valuable treasures fly in and out of the country at the whim of the highest bidder, politicians are bribed with art and alcohol, police chase after the wrong culprits, and gallery owners forge conniving ties to launder dirty money and monopolize the market -- all these adding up to an uncomfortable look at the society we live in.

   The movie is visually pleasant, holding up its reputation as an "art film." More than 300 paintings appear in the movie, many of which took months to create and just a few minutes to burn to ashes in a key scene.

   "It wasn't easy. Some artworks took more than eight months to complete," director Park said at the movie's preview Wednesday. "I was devastated when we had to burn them."

It took the emerging director nearly three years to complete the scenario, which was revised up to 100 times for perfection.

   "I wanted to make sure that none of the characters clash or share similar personalities. At the same time, they all had to share something -- a devotion for art. It was a difficult process," he said.

   While Park deserves praise for the effort, the overall result falls short of satisfaction with too many characters disrupting the audience's concentration, and despite the director's efforts, too many holes in the overall plot.
But considering "Insadong…" is his debut piece, Park has definitely made his name as one of the country's promising directors.

   The movie with a running time of 109 minutes will hit the local cinemas from April 30.

   hayney@yna.co.kr
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