Pacey, rich in detail, art scandal movie leaves final regrets

By Shin Hae-in

SEOUL, April 16 (Yonhap) -- As the end credits of "Insandong Scandal" roll, you'll realize you haven't even had a chance to assess whether you were entertained or not, so overwhelming are the speed and the breathless incoherence of the film.

With a multiplicity of disparate elements jammed into a running time of just over
100 minutes, the creators of this frenetic crime movie should first be applauded
for not choosing your run-of-the-mill backdrop.
Titled after the South Korean neighborhood of art dealers and galleries, the film
is full of details that indicate the filmmaker did his research beforehand and
also shows off a refined cinematography worthy of any Hollywood action film.
Tae-jin (Uhm Jung-hwa) -- an attractive art dealer and a dominant force on the
streets of Insadong with her instinct for money-making artworks -- stumbles upon
"Byeokando," a long-lost masterpiece by Korea's ancient Joseon Dynasty painter An
Gyeon.
Looking at some tens of billions of won, or tens of millions of dollars, for the
painting, Tae-jin hires Gang-jun (Kim Rae-won), a talented yet dangerous art
restoration expert, to repair the ancient painting.
Seoul's art street begins to rumble, however, with several greedy eyes on the
masterpiece and police sniffing something fishy about the whole restoration
process.
As the first South Korean film on art restoration, replication and forgery,
"Insadong???" is full of rich details on what really goes on inside the local art
world.
Stolen pieces show up on the black market, the country's most valuable treasures
fly in and out of the country at the whim of the highest bidder, politicians are
bribed with art and alcohol, police chase after the wrong culprits, and gallery
owners forge conniving ties to launder dirty money and monopolize the market --
all these adding up to an uncomfortable look at the society we live in.
The movie is visually pleasant, holding up its reputation as an "art film." More
than 300 paintings appear in the movie, many of which took months to create and
just a few minutes to burn to ashes in a key scene.
"It wasn't easy. Some artworks took more than eight months to complete," director
Park said at the movie's preview Wednesday. "I was devastated when we had to burn
them."
It took the emerging director nearly three years to complete the scenario, which
was revised up to 100 times for perfection.
"I wanted to make sure that none of the characters clash or share similar
personalities. At the same time, they all had to share something -- a devotion
for art. It was a difficult process," he said.
While Park deserves praise for the effort, the overall result falls short of
satisfaction with too many characters disrupting the audience's concentration,
and despite the director's efforts, too many holes in the overall plot.
But considering "Insadong???" is his debut piece, Park has definitely made his
name as one of the country's promising directors.
The movie with a running time of 109 minutes will hit the local cinemas from
April 30.