''Honest Candidate'' () is a 2020

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Jang Yu-jeong, starring

Ra Mi-ran Ra Mi-ran (born March 6, 1975) is a South Korean actress and television personality. Career Before making her film debut in ''Lady Vengeance'' (2005), Ra Mi-ran spent years acting in theatre. Afterwards, she appeared in more than 40 films but di ...

Kim Mu-yeol Kim Mu-yeol (born May 22, 1982) is a South Korean actor. Following a successful career in musical theatre, Kim was first cast in minor parts on film and television. But after getting good reviews in his supporting roles in '' The Scam'' (2009) an ...

Na Moon-hee Na Moon-hee (; Na Kyung-ja, ; November 30, 1941) is a South Korean actress. Since 1960, Na has had a prolific acting career in television and film spanning more than five decades. She established a classic Korean mother persona with her Korean d ...

, Yoon Kyung-ho and Jang Dong-joo. It is the remake of the 2014 Brazilian film ''O Candidato Honesto''. It was released on February 12, 2020. A sequel was confirmed on February 10, 2021.

Plot

A third-term congresswoman who is running for the fourth time is suddenly unable to lie a few days before the elections are about to take place. The problem is that her whole political career is based on lies.

Cast

Honest Candidate - Ra Mi-ran and Kim Mu-yeol

;Main *

as Joo Sang-sook *

as Park Hee-cheol *

as Kim Ok-hee *

Yoon Kyung-ho Yoon Kyung-ho (, born 5 July 1980) is a South Korean theatre, film and television actor. He debuted in 2002 in SBS's documentary drama ''Savage Age''. He came into prominence in KBS's 2017 legal drama ''Witch at Court'' and tvN's 2019 TV series ...

as Bong Man-sik * Jang Dong-joo as Bong Eun-ho ;Supporting * Song Young-chang as Lee Woon-hak * Son Jong-hak as Kim Sang-pyo *

Cho Soo-hyang Cho Soo-hyang (born January 21, 1991) is a South Korean actress. Career Cho Soo-hyang won Actress of the Year Award for her role in the film ''Wild Flowers'' (2015) at the 19th Busan International Film Festival in 2014. She is noted for he ...

as Shin Ji-sun * Ahn Se-ho as Lee Jeong-min * Kim Na-yoon as Yoon Mi-kyung * Ko Kyu-pil as Reporter Hwang *

Kim Yong-rim Kim Yong-rim (born March 3, 1940) is a South Korean actress. Kim made her acting debut in 1961 and has since worked steadily in Korean dramas, notably ''Silver Grass'', for which she won the Grand Prize (Daesang) at the MBC Drama Awards The ...

as mother-in-law ;Special appearances * Jo Han-chul as Nam Yong-sung *

On Joo-wan On, on, or ON may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * On (band), a solo project of Ken Andrews * ''On'' (EP), a 1993 EP by Aphex Twin * ''On'' (Echobelly album), 1995 * ''On'' (Gary Glitter album), 2001 * ''On'' (Imperial Teen album), 200 ...

as Kim Joon-young *

Yoon Se-ah Yoon Se-ah (born January 2, 1978) is a South Korean actress best known for her roles in '' The City Hall'', ''Wife Returns'', '' A Gentleman's Dignity'', '' Stranger'', ''Sky Castle'', and ''Snowdrop''. Yoon was paired with Korean-French-Canadian ...

as Cha Yoon-kyung *

Oh Man-seok Oh Man-seok (born January 30, 1975) is a South Korean actor. Best known for playing the titular transgender singer in rock musical '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'', Oh's acting career spans theater, television and film. Career Theater beginnings ...

as Jang Deok-joon

Production

Director Jang Yu-jeong came across the film ''O Candidato Honesto'' when she was recording a commentary for ''

The Bros ''The Bros'' is a 2017 South Korean comedy-drama film directed by Chang You-jeong. The film stars Ma Dong-seok, Lee Dong-hwi and Lee Hanee. Plot Seok-bong is a penniless history teacher who dreams of discovering lost treasure. His younger brothe ...

'' (2017). She said that "she could have made it to fuel anger by shedding light on the realities of local politics and press, but thought it would be more interesting to turn tinto a satire. hewas immediately hooked and made the decision o make the filmin about 10 minutes." Although the original character is a male politician in

Roberto Santucci Roberto Santucci (born 1967) is a Brazilian filmmaker. Santucci holds degrees for the Columbia College Hollywood and University of California. He started his career as a filmmaker directing short films, and then action films. However, due to low bo ...

's ''O Candidato Honesto'', director and screenwriter Jang Yu-jeong cast actress

for the role of the protagonist. As she "developed the character, herealized that no other person could handle this role other than Ra. That’s how the gender changed." Principal photography began on June 15, 2019. Filming was completed on September 7. The film is based on the 2014 Brazilian film of the same name, The Honest Candidate (Brazilian

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: O Candidato Honesto). Produced based on a screenplay by Paulo Cursino, it was a hit by criticizing the reality of Brazil at the time while using the subject of '

lie A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deceiving or misleading someone. The practice of communicating lies is called lying. A person who communicates a lie may be termed a liar. Lies can be inter ...

' comically. The Korean remake of Brazil's Honest Candidate was announced in 2016 at the Globalgate Consortium in which the world's leading film production companies and distributors participated and received high attention.

Release

The distributor

Next Entertainment World Next Entertainment World (Korean: 넥스트엔터테인먼트월드, Acronym: NEW) is a South Korean media content production and distribution company. The film investment and distribution business was founded in 2008 by former Showbox presid ...

considered postponing the release of the film due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

but eventually decided not to, and the film was released on February 12, 2020 as originally planned.

Reception

Box office

Released on a Wednesday, the film topped its first weekend box office and constituted 44% of the total ticket sales.

Awards and nominations

Sequel

A sequel to the film titled as ''

Honest Candidate 2 ''Honest Candidate 2'' () is a 2022 South Korean comedy film directed by Jang Yu-jeong, starring Ra Mi-ran, Kim Mu-yeol, Yoon Kyung-ho and Park Jin-joo. A sequel of the 2020 film ''Honest Candidate'', it was wrapped up on October 31, 2021 afte ...

'' wrapped up on October 31, 2021. It is slated to release on September 28, 2022.

References

External links

* * * {{IMDb title, 11812338 2020 films 2020s Korean-language films 2020s political comedy films South Korean political comedy films Next Entertainment World films South Korean remakes of Brazilian films 2020 comedy films