Comedy turns into entertaining drama

A scene from the upcoming film “Seondal: The Man who Sells the River” / Courtesy of CJ Entertainment

'Seondal' has fewer laughs than expected

By Yun Suh-young

"Seondal: The Man who Sells the River" (directed by Park Dae-min) which will be released on July 6 is meant to be a comedy. The twist is that it's less of a comedy and more of a drama.

The refreshing story of a legendary conman Kim Seon-dal, who is known for his whimsical schemes that trick people into believing his stories, is the first of its kind made into a film in Korean cinematic history.

As much as the plot was new, the film evoked much curiosity and anticipation at the media premiere. But it didn't fully stand up to expectations. The film did, however, make a fruitful achievement in its attempt to transfer the legendary story onto screen.

Kim Seon-dal, earned the nickname "Bong-i," for one of his earlier schemes of tricking an official into buying a chicken claiming it was a phoenix ("bong"). Kim was a figure who, according to legend, traveled the country tricking the elite, the wealthy, and the powerful with much enjoyment after being discriminated for his low economic and educational status. He tricks them into buying his products for unreasonably high price after making a necessary item scarce. He even makes people pay for the water they take home from the river claiming that the river is his.

In the film, Kim's selling of the river is targeted at one person, the country's most powerful man, Seong Dae-ryun (Cho Jae-hyun) who monopolizes the distribution of cigars and exports a large part of it to China's Qing Dynasty. Kim Seon-dal (Yoo Seung-ho) decides to trick the greedy Seong into buying the river after leaking evidence of gold being discovered in the river's soil.

In order to successfully trick Seong, Kim must claim that the river is officially his. So he passes the civil servant examination with a top score and achieves high educational status. He then approaches the king and asks him to help him accomplish his scheme. This is a part which reminds us of the hit film "Catch Me If You Can" by Steven Spielberg where Frank passes the bar exam to perfect his disguise.

In the first half of the film, the film shows how Kim Seon-dal got his foot into the conman trade. Kim had been conscripted to the military for his low social status and forced to fight in the war. After surviving the war, Kim decides to enjoy his life to the fullest and through any means possible. Since that turning point he dresses up as various different professions and roles, even in drag, to succeed in tricking people.

The first half of the film shows a series of witty schemes which are supposed to be funny. But it turns out to be weaker than it could have been and fails to draw laughter from the audience.

It is the second half of the film with the appearance of Seong that the film starts to be engaging again. The charisma of veteran actor Cho Jae-hyun is overwhelming and steals the audience’s attention. Pitifully, baby face heartthrob Yoo and his comical counterparts Bo-won (Go Chang-suk) and Yoon Bosal (La Mi-ran), who are his con partners, fail to gain back any of that attention. Especially upsetting is the lack of appearance of Yoon Bosal on screen as actress La is widely known for her superb comedic performance. Neither does the film bring out actor Go’s humor to its fullest as he is also one of the country's funniest actors.

Considering the gripping second half of the film which comes from the dramatic tension between Kim Seon-dal and Seong Dae-ryun in a tug of war of buying and selling the river and Seong's greed leading to his own demise, the film perhaps should have been made into a well-made drama instead of comedy. Nevertheless, it is an entertaining piece well suited for the summer.