[MOVIE REVIEW] “Good Morning President”

Movie: “Good Morning President”
Warning: This movie may be different from reality

Jang Dong-gun is the president. Just for this fact alone, film “Good Morning President” is as surreal as a tsunami hitting Pusan. For some ten years in the movie, actors Lee Soon-jae, Jang Dong-gun and Goh Doo-shim play the role of president and they all care profusely about the people. Of course, “President” does not go deep into political satire. Like director Jang Jin said, “There is no political color to the film”, the movie makes the audience chuckle here and there with his wit and from the way he sets up ironical situations. But the most fundamental reason viewers can immerse themselves in “President” is that they can experience and enjoy certain fantasies for two hours; such as, what would happen when a handsome guy like Jang Dong-gun, or someone with a respectable resume like Lee Soon-jae became president. Of course, we will all need to be warned that we must forget about reality when watching the movie.

Three presidents appear in the film. One of them has won a 20 billion won lottery toward the end of his presidency and the handsome one is at a crossroads of making a very important life-altering decision. The first female president in Korea is cornered into a political crisis because of her immature husband. But what director Jang Jin wants to express is not a president facing political issues but the worries in life that even a president goes through. The director, who is back to making witty comedies after working on “Righteous Ties” and “My Son”, bases the movie on the infinite optimism which trusts in the good of the people and then seems to try and deliver three big lessons of life through the three presidents. But the way the stories are told, the rhythm and how they unfold is almost the same with all three characters. The set-up of a president in a unique situation does not bring out any additional stories. Compared to the expectation of the film’s extraordinary plot and cast, “President” is an easily predictable comedy at best. Even the witty chatting from the director has decreased. The most interesting moment in “President” is when the movie faces its subject - the president - head-on. The political and personal problems facing Cha Ji-wook (played by Jang Dong-gun) as president shows us the weight of reality that a president must carry. And Jang Dong-gun makes a speech after finding the answers to all these problems. The speech is mediocre for a movie, but enough to make the Korean people, living in reality, become choked up with tears. On screen, Jang Dong-gun gives a speech about life but off screen, that life is actually different in reality. Right, this is only a movie.

Senior Reporter : Kang Myoung-Seok two@10asia.co.kr
Editor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr, Lee Ji-Hye seven@10asia.co.kr