The President's Last Bang
Geuddae geusaramdeul
Synopsis
Korean CIA chief Kim secretly nurtures personal disgust with his dissolute president’s embarrassing appetites and impatience with his dissent-mired nation. During a banquet with President Park, Kim impulsively improvises a conspiracy that will change the course of world politics.
Our take
One of the most exciting Korean directors working today, Im Sang-soo showed up at Cannes with this controversial political-thriller-turned-dark-comedy. Sued and originally censored, it nonetheless won critical acclaim—a story too impossible to believe, and too insane to be made up!
Critics reviews
The coup attempt that concludes that long sequence is shot with dazzling cinematic style, with long pans and overhead shots that Brian De Palma would be happy to claim as his own. But more valuable is Im’s clear-eyed view of human nature at its basest.
Noel Murray
January 11, 2006
The New York Sun
It’s the kind of movie Oliver Stone hoped “Nixon” would be: bomb-throwing, assumption-destroying, deeply entertaining political art. It is the most controversial movie ever released in Korea.
Grady Hendrix
October 14, 2005
Korean Film
President Park’s legacy remains an unresolved question for much of the Korean populace. Complicating the matter, Park’s daughter now leads Korea’s centre-right opposition party, ensuring that the historically themed Last Bang would be read as a comment on the present as well as the past.
Darcy Paquet
January 01, 2005
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