The President's Last Haircut

It was difficult for Filmbrain to sit and watch Lim Chan-sang's The President's Barber, a satire set during the reign of President/Dictator Park Chung-hee, without thinking of the vastly superior The President's Last Bang by Im Sang-soo. That two films released within a year of each other should tackle the same difficult period is perhaps telling -- could this indicate the genesis of a new wave of films and filmmakers that are unafraid to address the more turbulent moments in Korea's recent past, and through dark comedy no less? Neither film was a tremendous success, which could indicate that the wounds are still too fresh, and opinions still too divided. Whereas The President's Last Bang went for the astute yet absurdist satire of Kubrick or Mamet, The President's Barber instead looks to films like Forrest Gump (too much) and The Tin Drum (not enough) for inspiration, and the end result lacks the sharpness required for tackling such controversial material. The film, which begins in the final days of the Rhee Syng-man presidency, takes place in the working class community surrounding Blue House, the presidential executive mansion. Seong Han-mo (Song Kang-ho) is the local barber -- a likeable, warm, though terribly dim fellow whose political opinion is whatever his friends tell him it should be. He's more than happy to help them bury ballots to ensure Rhee's reelection, even if he doesn't quite understand why. He winds up marrying his young assistant (a criminally underused Moon So-ri) after getting her pregnant, and it is their son Nak-han (born in the streets during the April 19th revolution) who narrates the entire tale. Shortly after the May '61 coup (unwittingly assisted by Seong Han-mo, who points the tanks in the direction of Blue House) our barber-hero is called upon by members of the KCIA and asked if he would like to become groomer to the President. President Park, staunchly anti-intellectual ("they have spoiled our nation in the past, and present"), takes a genuine shine to Seong Han-mo, and enjoys his purely instinctual, non-politically motivated reactions and opinions. Park goes so far as to bring him to America, which gives the filmmaker an opportunity to create Gump-like doctored footage of the barber awkwardly meeting Nixon. The Gump factor is quite strong for this portion of the film, and there is something vaguely Tom Hanks-ish about Song Kang-ho's performance. And like Forrest Gump, the politics here are somewhat dubious. While the barber's ignorance can be seen as allegorical for those who blindly pledged their allegiance, the film seems to go quite easy on Park, who's often shown as a quiet, calm, and charming individual. The corrupt, thuggish, and brutal behavior of the KCIA (and Park's other cronies) seems self-initiated -- as if to distance Park from it all. This is in sharp contrast to Im's portrayal of Park in The President's Last Bang, where he's shown to be a ruthless and arrogant leader whose personal pleasures matter more than affairs of state. The second half of the film turns decidedly darker, though the attempts at humor, brave as they may be, often backfire. A group of North Korean guerillas set to launch an attack on Blue House is waylaid by a nasty bout of diarrhea that hits the entire squad. (Nothing like toilet humor for a cheap laugh, eh?) Upon their capture, it is decided that anybody in the town who has diarrhea must have been working with the guerillas, and arrests and torture follow. When ten year-old Nak-han falls ill, the barber, fearing for his own safety, hands the boy over to the police. The inevitable and prolonged torture of the boy (which leaves him crippled) is played here for laughs, and it simply doesn't work. (Much in the same way that Nak-han's birth scene, which takes place while students are being shot, failed to produce the desired chuckles.) This personal tragedy opens the barber's eyes (somewhat) to the truth about the regime, and the film ventures into the melodramatic as the family seeks a cure for the boy. The post-assassination sequence (which includes yet more scatological humor) is another bit of heavy-handed allegory that neatly wraps the film up with a happy ending. The decision to have the story narrated by the son is an odd one. It distances us from Seong Han-mo, and prevents the film from being able to get away with its naive approach towards history. All it succeeds in doing is giving the film an unneeded dose of schmaltz that reduces it to a quasi-tragic father-son tale. With its sepia-toned nostalgic look, The President's Barber is certainly an interesting film, if only to witness director Lim's unique look at the Park years. However, its awkward mixture of feel-good dramatics and miscalculated attempts at dark comedy result in a film that is neither biting satire nor emotionally involving drama.

Comments

[Adam]

Moon So-ri barely used.
Song Kang-ho poorly used.
Controversial topic.
This film had so much potential but seemed to just waste all that potential for a pretty much forgettable flick.

[Filmbrain]

To have Korea's finest actress in your film and not use her is, as I said, criminal.

As for Song Kang-ko -- another great actor given little to work with. It's clear that Lim is about as good as George Lucas when it comes to working with actors.

[burritoboy]

Agree that this movie is not that great. Fairly mediocre. It can't seemingly decide whether it's comedy or tragedy (attempts at failed comedy during child-torture scenes are, uh, not really a great idea). And, as you note, there is no really substantive criticism or understanding about the Park regime (yeah, we get that torture is bad - what else does Lim got?). Haven't seen The President's Last Bang.