은밀하게 위대하게 Secretly Greatly review

clockwise from left: Kim Soo-Hyun 김수현, PARK Ki Woong 박기웅, LEE Hyun Woo

Secretly Greatly starring Kim Soo-Hyun 김수현 (2012 The Thieves 도둑들), Lee Hyun-Woo 이현우 (2011 G-Love 글러브 and Park Ki-Woong 박기웅 (2011 War of Arrows 최종병기 활) tells the story of WON Ryu-Hwan (Kim Soo-Hyun), a specially trained North Korean spy placed undercover in a neighborhood of Seoul to await orders. Over the span of his two years in Seoul, his cover as a “neighborhood idiot” is played out to perfection. So perfectly in fact he has the whole neighborhood fooled. Two more spies from the North are sent to the same neighborhood their crazy covers as wannabe rock star and high school students adds to the comedy. But this is no ordinary comedy. We’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Korean film is brilliant at crossing genres and this film falls into that category.

The promotion of the film has always pointed to being a film for teens with handsome males, low-level comedy and the promise of some action. What we end up getting is a film that begins with comedy and drama and magically weaves its way cautiously to a full on spy action drama. Whats so magical about it is its ability to bring you classic Korean slapstick comedy mixed with some clever lines as it lays out a platform to introduce you to all the major players, sucking you into building a relationship with each character. It seamlessly brings in the drama piece by piece and as the comedy begins to weave out, its replaced by spy drama and brilliant action scenes.

With Secretly Greatly JANG Cheol-Soo 장철수 in his sophomore feature, announces to the world loud and clear “I know how to direct a film”. It’s certainly hard to believe that this film came from an understudy of KIM Ki Duk’s (김기덕) but there are elements that exist to remind you of his past. Surprising twists, strained relationships, betrayal and tough life decisions are all prevalent themes in the film. JANG never goes to the extremes that KIM does and he’d probably hate that I’m making a comparison, as both directors live in different film playgrounds now. But it does help me make the point that this is not a film fairly reflected by its trailer and it’s probably a good thing seeing as so many trailers give away way too much these days. That being said, dont watch the trailer for this film as it spoils too many surprises. (But the teaser below is fine.)

Scene From Secretly Greatly

Director JANG Cheol-Soo masterfully maneuvers the cameras around enhancing each emotion moving the audience through, disgust, laughter and tears and his ability to shoot an action scene reflects a bright future should he wish to travel the action genre road again. I’ve always complained about fight scenes being so over cut with short edits, that it’s hard to see the action but JANG thoughtfully leaves enough time in between cuts that the edits highlight the action rather than confusing the scene. Where the film truly lacks is believability in the story line. Its a bit far-fetched but with everything else thats going on you tend to turn a blind eye to it.

KIM Soo Hyun puts in a brilliant performance moving from comedy to drama to action and he’s well supported by LEE Hyun Woo, and PARK Ki Woong who add a couple of likable supporting characters to the mix. The three have distinctive characters and outside of our main protagonist you’re never too sure who to trust.

은밀하게 위대하게 (romanized as “Eunmil Hagye Weedae Hagye) literally means “Secretly Greatly” reflecting the hope of every spy, that is to operate in secret and achieving greatness doing so. No doubt Secretly Greatly will elevate its actors as well as its director to further greatness and with the film already reaching number one at the box office with positive reviews from netizens it won’t be much of a secret.

Secretly Greatly, based on a 2010 webcomic of the same name, will probably not satisfy indie art house fans, it’s just not that kind of film, but I’m siding with the netizens on this one and giving it a solid 4 out of 5.