'Default' brings back economic nightmare

Actress Kim Hye-soo, second from left, other cast members and director Choi Kook-hee, center, of the upcoming film “Default,” pose during a recent press conference at a CGV in southern Seoul. / Courtesy of CJ ENM

By Park Jin-hai

The Asian Financial Crisis, which first erupted in Thailand in 1997 with the collapse of its currency, the baht, and then rapidly spread to neighboring countries and Korea later in the year, wreaked the worst havoc on the Korean economy.

The economic nightmare still affects people's lives over two decades later.

The upcoming film “Default,” starring veteran actors Kim Hye-soo and Yoo Ah-in, brings Korea's worst financial crisis in recent memory to the silver screen and depicts various people who made different choices when the country's whole economy was in peril.

It is the first Korean film with the financial crisis as the central theme.

Kim takes on the lead role of Han Si-hyun, a senior financial analyst at the Bank of Korea who is striving to do the right thing during the seven days before the country declared a liquidity crisis and sought the bailout program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

During that time when everybody was upbeat about the economic outlook, Han reads the ominous economic signals and predicts the imminent national crisis looming large.

The film was inspired by a short news article that said there was a taskforce team that worked behind closed doors during the liquidity crisis.

Kim, best known for “The Thieves” (2012) and “Coin Locker Girl” (2015), said she felt a rush of excitement when she read the script.

“As I read through the story, I felt strong feelings that made my heart race. At the time of the crisis, I was an adult, yet I was unaware of many parts of such stories,” the 48-year-old veteran actress said. “I came to the conclusion this kind of story should be made into a film so that many people could watch,” she added, explaining why she joined the film.

The film's director Choi Kook-hee said 1997 was a turning point in Korea's modern history.

“The negotiations with the IMF are not something of the past but still affect many lives. I wanted to let audiences feel the urgency of the time,” Choi said. “Some people fight to prevent the crisis, while others try to use the economic catastrophe for their own gains. Some just fiercely ran everywhere to protect their families and companies from the crisis. I wanted to depict all of those people in my film.”

Kim said she liked that her character lives by her principles and beliefs. “When the nation was hit hard by the crisis, Han is the one who goes by the principles and what she believes. I thought to myself what country Korea would be like today, if it had more people like Han back then.”

Yoo takes on the role of former banker Yun Jeong-hak, who thinks the crisis is a lifetime chance for investment, while rising actor Jo Woo-jin plays the vice minister of finance, a person colliding with Han in dealing with the crisis.

French star Vincent Cassel will appear in the film as the IMF head to negotiate the bailout with the Korean government.

The film will hit local theaters on Nov. 28.