Mystery flick depicts 3 young, ambitious women in 1990s

From left, actors Ko A-sung, Park Hye-su and ESom pose at the online press event for the film “Samjin Co. English Class,” Monday. Courtesy of Lotte Entertainment

By Kwak Yeon-soo

“Samjin Co. English Class” is a detective-mystery movie in which three young office workers, who aspire to become successful career women in the patriarchal society of the 1990s, join forces to reveal corruption at their company.

Set in 1995, Ko A-sung plays Lee Ja-young, an employee who discovers that her company has contaminated a river with toxic material and is trying to cover it up.

Lee teams up with Jung Yoo-na (ESom) from the company's marketing team and Shim Bo-ram (Park Hye-su) from the finance team to take up an uphill and seemingly unwinnable cause for what they believe is right.

Director Lee Jong-pil explained that the story is based on real event.

“In the mid-1990s, the country's globalization policy pushed corporations to offer English TOEIC classes to their employees. The three main characters are high school graduates who try to obtain TOEIC scores for promotion,” he said at an online press event for the film, Monday. “The film is a detective-mystery that has both pensive and joyful elements.”

Lee previously directed the period pansori musical drama “The Sound of a Flower” fronted by Bae Suzy.

Ko, who plays Lee, said she was drawn to the unexpected twists in the screenplay.

“I've known director Lee for quite a while and I thought I knew his cinematic style. However, there was an unexpected twist in the script, which was really interesting,” she said.

“There were times when I was moved to tears, especially the scene where I stand at the subway platform without screen doors. Since it was the time when cellphones weren't commercialized, we would stand there staring at our friends on the other side until the subway leaves.”

Ko is known for her leading roles in Bong Joon-ho's films “The Host” (2006) and “Snowpiercer” (2013) and recently starred in the 2019 Japanese colonial era protest drama “A Resistance.”

A poster for the film “Samjin Co. English Class” / Courtesy of Lotte Entertainment

ESom, who plays Jung, said she chose the project because the movie title was unique and it is set in the 1990s.

“I thought the movie title was unusual, and I loved how it captures the '90s culture and trends,” she said. “I studied old fashion and beauty magazines and video clips, went shopping with a prop/costume team and presented many ideas to have the '90s look, such as thick curls, brown lips and pencil-thin brows. I even suggested changing my English name to Michelle from Sylvia.”

After coming to prominence as a lead in Yim Pil-sung's “Scarlet Innocence” (2014), ESom has earned critical acclaims for starring in “Microhabitat” (2018).

Park said the cast had great synergy because they belong to same age group.

“The film taught me about life, love and friendship. Whenever Ko was moved to tears on set, I also cried. Because the film relies on intimacy between characters, the three of us actually lived together while filming,” Park said.

“There was plenty of things I could learn from the on-screen style. For instance, I cut my hair short for the role, and that helped me immerse myself into the character.”

Park appeared in Kang Hyoung-chul's period tap-dance musical drama “Swing Kids” last year.

“Samjin Co. English Class” will hit local theaters in October.