'Final Interview' questions what life holds for young people in a 5,000-to-1 society
A poster for “Final Interview” / Courtesy of NEW
Film exposes dark side of cutthroat job market and youth unemployment in Korea
Six applicants make it to the final interview at a major corporation after beating odds of 5,000 to 1. With COVID-19 cases surging and youth employment plummeting, they spend a month preparing together for the final hurdle: a team discussion.
But just before the interview, the company's human resources department, which had initially said all six could be hired, informs them that only one person will be selected. Their task is even more daunting: They must choose the successful candidate themselves within two hours. Due to COVID-19 gathering restrictions, the human resources department monitors the six applicants' discussion through surveillance cameras installed in the interview room.
The applicants agree to establish their own “fair” rules for the discussion and vote on who should be hired every 30 minutes. But they soon discover mysterious envelopes bearing each of their six names. The first envelope to be opened, belonging to Baek Seung-bin (Shin Seung-ho), contains a news article and photographs revealing that he was involved in school bullying during high school. The discussion quickly turns into a series of mutual accusations, as the applicants begin suspecting one another and trying to identify who sent the envelopes.
“Final Interview” is a mystery thriller about a search for the person behind the revelations that shatter the hopes of desperate job seekers who have barely made it to the final interview round and are eager to secure a position. The film is based on the novel “Six Lying College Students” by Japanese author Akinari Asakura.
Despite its somewhat extreme premise, the film's story has unmistakable parallels with reality. A single photograph can be enough to turn another applicant into a “scumbag” and knock them out of the competition. Once a stigma takes hold, neither the authenticity of the evidence nor the accused person's attempts to defend themselves seem to matter.
The secret satisfaction the culprit must have felt after eliminating the other applicants is not so different from the sense of catharsis we experience when watching someone else fall from grace. Nor is the HR department's response — watching the confrontation escalate while refusing to intervene despite concerns that “someone could get hurt” — far removed from our own tendency to stand by and watch another person's downfall.
The culprit's identity, revealed through several twists, is also strikingly reminiscent of online trolls who post malicious comments. Consumed by feelings of inferiority and victimhood, the culprit directs their anger not at the company's opaque recruitment system or a social structure that leaves little room for young people, but at fellow job seekers and other vulnerable people in the same predicament, whom they despise and look down on. The culprit, too, is a product of the dark side of the times, shaped by dozens of failed job applications and repeated misfortunes.
In a society where earning a living requires beating odds of 5,000 to 1, what kind of life is possible for young people? The film leaves viewers with a sobering question.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.