'The Intern': Charming leads shine in feel-good Korean remake with little edge
Choi Min-sik, left, and Han So-hee in the Korean remake of "The Intern" / Courtesy of Warner Brothers Korea and Anthology Studios
Seniority is something that has long been embedded in Korean society, with honorific words and unspoken rules existing for dealing with people who are older than you.
In fact, it was only a few years ago that companies made headlines for introducing policies on requiring employees — regardless of their ages and ranks — to address their colleagues with the universal suffix "nim."
Against this backdrop, the Korean remake of the Hollywood megahit "The Intern" (2015) captures the unlikely bond between a young woman entrepreneur and an elderly intern at her company.
Sun-woo (Han So-hee) is an ambitious executive who has built her fashion startup Woo22 into a major industry player from scratch but struggles to juggle her personal life with her job as the chief of a company that has grown big in a short time.
Her encounter with Ki-ho (Choi Min-sik) comes unexpectedly, as the retired office worker with a 37-year career behind him, coincidentally spots an online ad looking for a three-month "silver intern" at Woo22, a move actually aimed at cutting taxes.
Sun-woo politely addresses Ki-ho as "Kiho-nim," but as a person who claims she is "at odds with all elderly," she finds it difficult to assign work to an older employee. Eventually, Ki-ho is left sitting idly at his desk without any work to do unlike his younger intern colleagues.
His rather traditional workplace decorum — such as coming to office first in the morning as a newbie and not leaving the office until his boss Sun-woo does — worsens the situation, making him an uncomfortable presence in the Gen Z-populated office.
But as time passes, Ki-ho establishes himself as an irreplaceable presence, with his openness to embracing generational differences, his natural sense of warmth and his diligent attitude.
He becomes a shoulder to lean on for Sun-woo, as she navigates her strained relationship with her husband and growing pressure from investors to step to the sidelines and instead employ a professional executive.
The narrative proceeds with small episodes — which sometimes feel a bit random — and there are no hidden twists in the plot, making the film quite predictable.
Although details have been changed in comparison with the original work, those who have watched the 2015 film will not find the remake dramatically different, if not for the added Korean elements and the technological changes that have happened over the decade — think social media influencers and the digital divide that isolates the elderly.
Korean elements, such as scenes featuring landmarks of Seoul like the Namsan Tower and the traditional cookie "oranda" that appears as Ki-ho's favorite snack, meanwhile, give the film pleasant vibes.
The strength of the film actually comes from its leads, with Choi and Han delivering stellar chemistry and firmly anchoring the film.
Being one of the country's most renowned actors, Choi once again delivers a compassionate performance that creates an original and charming character. Han builds a complex character who is both fragile yet resilient, delivering one of her best performances.
The ensemble cast of the employees of Woo22, including Ryu Hye-young, Kim Jun-han and Park Ye-ni, also add rhythm to the film in their own distinctive ways.
While their performances are a definite delight to watch, the narrative unfortunately fails to make the most of it.
At a time when generational frictions have become common, the remake of "The Intern" seems like a workplace fairy tale, which may make it an uplifting watch for those seeking comfort.
The film is directed by Kim Do-young, who sharply captured the Korean society from a young woman's point of view in the novel-based film "Kim Ji-young: Born 1982" (2019) and helmed the Korean remake of the Chinese film "Us and Them" (2018).
It is set for release Wednesday.