Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
'Money,' easy to follow yet unconvincing
Actors Ryu Jun-yeol, left, and Yoo Ji-tae laugh at a news conference for crime film “Money” at a CGV movie theater in southern Seoul on Feb. 11. In the box office hit, Yoo, who plays a client, offers a secret offer to stockbroker Ryu.
By Anna J. Park
Crime film tops box office
By Anna J. Park
The crime film “Money” topped the nation's box office, grossing over 1.5 million ticket admissions, since its release on Wednesday. During the past weekend, the movie attracted nearly 900,000, followed by “Captain Marvel” with about 330,000 admissions.
“Money,” directed by female filmmaker Park Noo-ri and based on the namesake 2013 fiction work, deals with the theme resonates with almost everyone. Park is making her directorial debut with the film.
Cho Il-hyun (played by Ryu Jun-yeol) is an entry-level stockbroker at a securities firm. He is ordinary in every sense. He is not outstanding in any fields and has a humble family background. His popular coworker Jeon Woo-sung (played by Kim Jae-young) belittles him. Jeon is the total package ― he is handsome, comes from a rich family and is great at his job.
Amid frustration, Cho meets a mysterious stock client (played by Yoo Ji-tae), who offers Cho a secret, dangerous deal. Cho earns a huge amount of money by simply executing what his client asks him to do.
Sensing abnormal stock transactions are occurring, financial supervisory authority official Han Ji-chul (played by Jo Woo-jin) closely monitors the stockbroker and his suspicious client. Tensions mount as Il-hyun himself eventually realizes what he has done for the client is illegal and could cost him his career and more. He is put to the test and asked to choose between ethics and the desire for financial wealth.
Even though the movie deals with the financial field, it is easy to follow and those who have no knowledge of or prior experience in the stock market will have no major problem understanding the plot. However, partly because of the plain, simple nature of the story, the film is loosely connected and suffers from weak character development. Many characters are one-dimensional, lacking the necessary depth to explain the motives of their choices.
The story also ends abruptly, without any persuasive context. Viewers are left scratching their heads as it's not clear why Il-hyun alone was released without facing the legal consequences from the financial scam. Also, the offer made by the mysterious client, who plays a villain in the film, is hard to follow. In the film, Cho's client, who is already rich, says he continues to risk his career to make more money because it's fun. But his position is not convincing and the audience cannot empathize with his under-developed character. Thus the film will probably not meet the high standards necessary to be dubbed a closely-weaved, intricate crime thriller.
However, despite such obvious drawbacks, the film is still fun to watch, giving viewers chills at some points. The film's strong point lies in its theme itself. With its speedy narrative, it successfully raises fundamental questions about money and greed; what money means to us, how it changes our lives, how much we need it and why, and most importantly, what is the ultimate value in one's life, transcending financial interests and temptations.
The film delves into the double-edged nature of money ― it can be both constructive and destructive. It also slightly touches on a flawed socio-economic structure, where more and more people feel helpless because they find it difficult to make more money through legitimate means.
In a way, the film encourages viewers to establish their own value system regarding money.