Controversial movie "26 years" opens in first place at box office

[asth77.livejournal.com]

 I
t’s a good day for revenge film 26 Years — after losing investors due to its politically sticky subject matter, languishing in development for four more years, and then resurrected by collecting donations from netizens online (reportedly 5 million won from over 13,000 people), the movie finally saw the light of day, and opened in theaters at number one. Slow clap, people. Slow clap.

The project is based on a 2006 webtoon of the same name by Kang Pool, about a group of individuals who set out to get revenge for the Gwangju Massacre of 1980, 26 years after the fact. The target of their assassination plot? Ex-president Chun Doo-hwan. You can see why it’s controversial — a wish-fulfillment revenge plot against a living ex-president is not for the faint of heart.

A little background: Chun Doo-hwan was the last dictator of South Korea who ruled from 1979 to 1988. He was technically only a military dictator from 1979 to 1980, and then won an “election” to the presidency in 1980, wherein he was the only candidate on the ballot. His term marks one the most turbulent political eras in modern Korean history, and his was the regime against which citizens rose up in organized demonstrations in May 1980, culminating in the Gwangju Massacre.

The movement and rebellion calling for democracy rose up in various parts of the country, but was most heated and most organized in Gwangju, where students took up arms in protest. The demonstration lasted days until the military came and quelled the movement. The death toll is still unknown to this day. Chun was belatedly tried for his crimes and sentenced to death, later overturned by life imprisonment, later overturned again with a reduced fine.

The film takes up 26 years after that event, when five characters who each lost a family member in May 1980 come together to find their own justice. Jin Gu (Moby Dick) plays a gangster; Han Hye-jin (Syndrome) a professional shooter (the athlete kind); Bae Soo-bin (49 Days) plays a businessman; Im Seul-ong (Acoustic) a young policeman, and Lee Kyung-young (Vampire Prosecutor 2) the head of a private security team. Jang Kwangplays a character they only call “That Man,” aka ex-president Chun.

The directorial debut from Jo Geun-hyun (art director on The Royal Concubine) opened on November 29 with over 110,000 tickets sold, taking first place at the box office, and easily doubled the figure and then some on its second day out. Not bad for a movie partially funded by donations online. Sometimes, the internet rules.

26 Years is in theaters now.

source video : Mrfactory7 
credit article : girlfriday @ dramabeans
original sources : Xsport News , Star News

Comments

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

later overturned again with a reduced fine.
What in the world? Why would they do that? No wonder this movie got money from netizens.

[0nlymemories.livejournal.com]

It's a lot like the US refusing to punish GWBush and Dick Cheney for going to war under false pretenses/Guantanamo, tbh. No government wants to publicly destroy a former political figure unless absolutely necessary, because it sets a precedent they don't want to fall victim to themselves.

[spread.livejournal.com]

Has there been any good kickass Korean films out this year, or last??
I'm kinda out of the loop, sadly.
After SOPA, my world flipped upside down...

[rikayla.livejournal.com]

"the thieves"? it was a blockbuster hit in SK :]

[asth77.livejournal.com]

Nameless Gangster!!

[brooke.livejournal.com]

Werewolf Boy is insanely popular here right now. ^^ I haven't seen it myself but everyone talks about it.

[hopeandmemory.livejournal.com]

seconding this - i saw it and it was gorgeous. a really touching film. song joongki is fucking amazing in it, and park boyoung was great too.

[inurbed.livejournal.com]

Looks good. Def gonna watch it

[21banged.livejournal.com]

This looks really good, can't wait to watch it!

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

Looks good...and as I was marking off the cast names I was like, "Im Seul Ong...what?" Scroll back to the top and it is the one from 2AM indeed.

[45s.livejournal.com]

This looks good!

[thebluemonk.livejournal.com]

damn i could have used this like 4 weeks ago.

[michurusan.livejournal.com]

I really want to watch this. I watched May 18 and I cried a lot. Being a psych major, I couldn't understand how the troops could kill and treat all those people in kwangju like that. And how Chun Doo Hwan would do that and think it was acceptable.
And wiki-ing it, I didn't understand why another president would pardon him and get a lesser fine. HE KILLED SO MANY PEOPLE.

[vvitchbaby.livejournal.com]

Have you ever seen Peppermint Candy? We watched a clip in my class so I haven't seen the whole thing, but apparently it's suppose to go into the psychological repercussions of the Gwangju Massacre in a soldier.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

It is? It's on my watch list but I always thought it was about the stigma of mental health and relationships. That adds a whole new layer to the film.

[0nlymemories.livejournal.com]

Basically because they didn't want to look like the military dictators that they were replacing. Even with the reduced penalty of life imprisonment it would have looked like the various life imprisonments of progressive figures in other countries (cough, china, cough) and no one wanted it to build up sympathy for the former government because of Chun Doo-Hwan's current treatment.

Or at least, that's what I've always gotten out of it. It sucks, but I can see why they wanted it to not be a recurring issue in future political discourse.

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

Its nice to see Bae Soo Bin in something new! :D

This is my kind of movie, can't wait to watch it when its finally out in DVD.

[soramai.livejournal.com]

this movie looks very good. Can't wait to be able to see it.

[czarny.livejournal.com]

yeah :)

[obviousgirl.livejournal.com]

Wasn't there another movie about this event that came out a few years ago, only the KCIA was involved?

[soft-daisy.livejournal.com]

Good cast.

[seung-is-my-ho.livejournal.com]

omg seulong's in it? how random, lol. with all the pro-democracy movements going on around the world, I think it's interesting that they're revisiting S.Korea's own struggle for democracy. not to mention that it happened not that long ago.