'10 Minutes' comments on workplace realities

Baek Jong-hwan stars as hapless government intern Hochan in the new movie “10 Minutes.” / Courtesy of Lotte Entertainment

By Yun Suh-young

It is becoming increasingly difficult for young people to find quality jobs. Even low-paying positions with a precarious future are hard to secure.

“10 Minutes,” which opens in Korea on Thursday, is the tale of a hapless government intern scrambling for job security. In his feature film debut, director Lee Yong-seung, mixes serious drama with comedy and the humor comes with a sting because it is drawn from real circumstances.

Hochan (Baek Jong-hwan) is an intern at an imaginary government agency, Korea Content Center, who is on a six-month contract. The company is reputedly a “heavenly” workplace that offers high wages and easy jobs. A full-time worker leaves and Hochan gets the chance to fill the position.

He is struggling to help support his family which is sinking under debt. He passes the interview and fully expects the job to be his. So, he is devastated when instead the position goes to Eunhye (Lee Shi-won), a daughter of somebody important, after the company’s president intervenes.

Hochan remains with the company, and is comforted by his superiors and representatives of the labor union people who say he will get another opportunity. But once Hochan starts thinking of ways to become a full time regular employee, he begins to realize that office success requires something more than good job performance.

Eunhye, initially a target of hate in the office, recovers with her people skills and deftness in playing office politics. The serious Hochan continues to be the more qualified and diligent worker, but colleagues began to rate Eunhye higher because she is less of a threat within their lax office culture.

Eunhye suddenly quits and Hochan’s boss gives him 10 minutes to decide whether he will take her place.

Within this timeframe Hochan is shown inside the room thinking. A siren then blares and employees are shaken out of their daily mundane duties as they scramble below their desks for an earthquake drill. Lee filmed this scene in slow motion. The disillusioned Hochan, observing the chaos through a window, is shown, perhaps contemplating his own disappointing future.

The movie was applauded when shown at the Busan International Film Festival last October where it received two awards — the KNN Movie Award (Audience Award) and the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Award. It also received international acclaim, receiving the Golden Wheel award at the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema and the FIPRESCI prize at Hong Kong International Film Festival this year.