''Serve the People'' () is a 2022 South Korean

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

film, written and directed by

Jang Cheol-soo Jang Cheol-soo (born 1974) is a South Korean film director. Filmography *'' The Coast Guard'' (2002) - assistant director *'' Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring'' (2003) - 1st assistant director, assistant editor *''Samaritan Girl' ...

and starring

Yeon Woo-jin Yeon or less commonly Youn (연) is a Korean surname. The name may correspond to the Chinese surnames Yan (燕, 延) or Lian (連). The hanja 延 is much more common than 燕 and 連. Yeon may also refer to the extinct surname (淵). Origin ...

, Ji An (지안),

Jo Sung-ha Jo Sung-ha (; born August 8, 1966) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his supporting roles in '' The Yellow Sea'' (2010), '' Helpless'' (2012), and ''Korean Peninsula'' (2012) and ''The K2 ''The K2'' () is a 2016 South Korean tele ...

and Kim Ji-chul. Based on the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

novel by Chinese writer

Yan Lianke Yan may refer to: Chinese states * Yan (state) (11th century – 222 BC), a major state in northern China during the Zhou dynasty * Yan (Han dynasty kingdom), first appearing in 206 BC * Yan (Three Kingdoms kingdom), officially claimed inde ...

, it depicts a romance between Mu Gwang, a model soldier, and Su-ryun, the young wife of the division commander and the inner conflicts of Mu Gwang. The film set in a fictional socialist country much similar to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

in the 1970s, was released theatrically on February 23, 2022 in South Korea.

Synopsis

Explaining the meaning of title the director of the film said, "The supreme leader has given the soldier the duty written on the sign to serve the people, and the ear of barley engraved next to it symbolizes a bountiful harvest and the red star symbolizes a brilliant future. The division commander values this sign more than life. And he said the same to Mu-gwang, the first to go to work. Su-ryun uses this sign to create rifts and widen the gaps. The language of revolution is replaced by the language of desire. It becomes a medium of love."

Cast

as Mu-gwang * Ji An as Soo-ryeon *

as Division commander * Kim Ji-chul as Company commander * Park Jung-eon as Instructor's wife * Woo Ju-bin as Veteran soldier * Han Min-yeop as Driver * Jang Hae-min as Mu-gwang's wife * Han Il-gyu as battalion commander

Production

In July 2013, the film was planned based on the novel '' Serve the People!'' by the Chinese novelist

. Director

was assigned direction of the film and Yeon Woo-jin was offered the lead role of a soldier, who while struggling between class differences and sexual desire, succumbs to the temptation of his boss's wife. In an interview the lead actor Yeon Woo-jin said that he had read the script back in 2014, but the filming began in 2020. In September 2020, it was reported that Yeon Woo-jin and Jian has been cast in the film ''Serve the People'' directed by Jang Cheol-soo and produced by Leopard Film Company. ''Serve the People'' is a comeback film of Ji An, who is appearing after 5 years. Her last film was '' The Way'' in 2017.

Reception

Box office

The film was released on 595 screens on February 23, 2022. On the opening day the film ranked at number 4 on the Korean box office. it is at 15th place among all the Korean films released in the year 2022, with gross of US$562,357 and 74,138 admissions.

Critical response

Kim Mi-hwa of Star News criticized the presentation of the film, writing, "the content of satire and resistance to the original system was not well expressed in the film". She further stated that the depiction of sex scenes "continues for a long time" and "the subject matter this film was trying to talk about in the first place becomes more and more distant." Kim found the character Soo-Ryun, played by actress Ji-An, "disappointing" as "it feels hard and awkward without knowing where it is". Concluding her review Kim opined, "''Serving the People'' seems to be difficult to leave behind more than a problematic work." Yang Yu-jin of My Daily in her review, termed the film as "A problematic work that shakes emotions by going back and forth between reason and instinct seeks the audience." She praised the performances of lead pair writing, "Yeon Woo-jin and Ji-an's challenging spirit stand out." Yang further stated, "in particular, Yeon Woo-jin's acting transformation is impressive." Concluding Yang wrote, that the film conveyed the impression that the heavy theme of anti-socialism has been somewhat volatilized, and it is only a description of exceptional 19-karat gold ex scenes" Lee Bora of ''

Cine21 ''Cine21'' is a South Korean film magazine issued by '' Hangyeore newspaper''. The magazine was first published on 24 April 1995 in Seoul, and subsequent issues have continued to be released weekly. The first editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief ...

'' reviewing the film stated that the endeavour was made to show the setting of the film in fiction world "with imagination added based on the tone of the characters and the overall

mise-en-scène ''Mise-en-scène'' (; en, "placing on stage" or "what is put into the scene") is the stage design and arrangement of actors in scenes for a theatre or film production, both in visual arts through storyboarding, visual theme, and cinematography, ...

." Bora opined, that the conflict between the protagonists, "who go back and forth between reality and desire, is produced very stiffly". Bora felt that the narrative of the film was not tightly woven, it felt "as if a screw is missing". Bora concluded, "the focus of

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

is on sexuality rather than love.

References

External links

* * * * {{IMDB title, tt18372308 2022 films 2020s South Korean films 2020s Korean-language films 2022 romantic drama films South Korean erotic drama films South Korean erotic romance films South Korean romantic drama films Films based on Chinese novels Films directed by Jang Cheol-soo Films set in a fictional country Films set in 1976 Adultery in films Films about socialism Films about military personnel