[HanCinema's Film Review] "The Age of Success" + Full Movie

Extreme capitalism and its blights, particularly in the ways it has given rise to a number of sociopaths that still seem to hold key positions in the current system has been the source of a number of masterpieces in international cinema, including films like "American Psycho", "The Wolf of Wall Street" and many others. "The Age of Success" is a similar movie that moves into a path that is at least equally mocking of the whole concept.

Advertisement

Kim Pan-chok (which means sales promotion) is a man who believes that "Love only matters when you can sell it" and his dream is to become the ultimate salesman. As we are introduced to him in his meager apartment, we see him saluting in Nazi fashion a poster of a Korean currency note before leaving to go to a job interview. There the board of directors of Mack Gang Group are asking the interviewees to sell them something inconsequential, in order to prove their selling abilities. Pan-chok aces the interview by convincing them to give him all their money, before revealing that what he sold was nothing, or as he called it 'the sales spirit'. His shenanigans do land him a job as a lower salesman in Yumi Foods, a subsidiary of the Mack Gang that produces sweeteners.

Pan-chok, expectedly, is not satisfied with his position, and after a literal and metaphorical beatdown by the company's main opposition, Gammi, he vows to take them down in three years, with his conviction actually leading him into higher and higher positions in the company. Pan-chok has a secret weapon, local bar hostess Seong So-bi, who he has tasked with spying on Gammi's latest products through the patrons she gets in her line of work. The woman falls in love with him, but soon realizes that his heart beats only for sales and money. As the competition between the two companies intensifies, our protagonist has to find more and more extreme ways to keep winning.

Jang Sun-woo presents a critique of the extreme capitalism that was permeating a Korea that was handling the Olympic games at the time, where the continuous financial progress had made the pursuit of sales, and subsequently money, a one way street for a plethora of people. The tactics the company used in order to overcome one another are satirized in the most hilarious but also pointed way. The continuous increase of price off in products in convenience stores, the sexualization of the advertisements, the inclusion of technology that seems at least far fetched are just a few of the tricks presented here, essentially presenting the corporate men and their tactics as utterly ridiculous. The behavior of the higher ups, and their demand for constant results no matter what, is also presented under the same prism, essentially deeming all of them as hateful, and quite sad caricatures, even if the "sadness" gets bigger the lower one is placed in the corporate ladder.

The saddest of them all however, is Pan-chok, with the way his absurd, lying, conniving, clownish way brings him to the top also providing a comment on how the industry works. Apart from that, he is portrayed as a true sociopath, whose obsession with money and success comes from his childhood years, as much as his tendency to use people around him to achieve his goals. The way he exploits Seong So-bi is a distinct sample which also provides a comment on how the perceived success of such men and their exhibiting passion make them attractive to women. The moment she realizes who he really is, though, is essentially the beginning of his downfall, with his tactics coming back to bite him in the worst way, as his grip with reality becomes thinner and thinner. The ending comment is quite melodramatic, but also can be perceived as somewhat positive for the industry, as the tricks of the past give their place to Western-oriented education, even if the competition never actually ceased its extremity, just transformed it.

Ahn Sung-ki gives an astonishing performance, I daresay one of the best of his career, with his over-the-top ways and overall extravagance carrying the movie from beginning to end. It is also quite unusual to watch him in so many erotic scenes, which are done, though, in tasteful fashion, without being particularly explicit. Lee Hye-young-I as So-bi is also great as the femme fatale who becomes a woman in love and a femme fatale again.

You Young-gil's cinematography captures the kitsch aesthetics of the era to perfection, with the corporate world looking both luxurious and ridiculous at the same time. Kim Hyeon-I's editing results in a fast tempo that suits the mentality of the particular industry as much as the protagonist's attitude, who, according to his own words, "runs with his brain and thinks with his legs".

"The Age of Success" is an excellent satire of the corporate world, which, sadly, has not changed much until this day, something that actually makes the movie relevant even today 35 years after it was first screened. Furthermore, it also deserves a look for one of Ahn Sung-ki's best performances ever.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

___________

"The Age of Success" is directed by Jang Sun-woo, and features Ahn Sung-ki, Lee Hye-young-I, Choi Bong, Jeong Bu-mi, Kim Eun-suk, Jung Jin. Release date in Korea: 1988/06/04.