Park Sang-min is mostly known as the co-scriptwriter of the horror film “Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum”. “I Haven't Done Anything”, a rather funny ‘quarantine' movie is his feature debut in the director's chair.
“I Haven't Done Anything” is screening at Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival
Oh Tae-kyung, once an up-and-coming actor, is currently unable to find jobs, and thus, decides to start a YouTube channel, adapting Oh Dal-su's appearance and persona from “Old Boy”, where he will grant people's wishes for a fee. One day, a subscriber offers him a great deal of money to find out the story of a man standing alone on the street with a picket saying “I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING”. However, the guy remains in endless silence, despite Tae-kyung's efforts. Right when he is about to give up, he comes across the picket guy's sister and she tells him what had happened. As he starts revealing the case on his channel, the media also start showing interest in the story, which ends up including a number of twists, some of which include Tae-kyung himself.
The concept of the ‘quarantine' movie is quite intense here, with the majority of the movie presented through computer and other types of screens, usually with Tae-kyung on his own talking to his fans in a way that occasionally looks as if he is talking to the viewer of the movie. Apart from the limitation this approach offers, the whole narrative approach is equally funny, intelligent and filled with social commentary.
Check also this interview
To begin with, the whole concept of mimicking Choi Min-sik's Oh Dal-su while loaning the man with the picket from “Crying Fist” is a hilarious trope on its own, that actually carries the movie for the majority of its duration. The self-deprecating humor is also all over the place, with Oh Tae-kyeong even mocking himself for his bulging eyes, explaining that it has to do with a thyroid condition, while the critique of the movie industry and particularly the way the actors are cast is as funny as it is pointed.
Apart from that, Park also comments on the whole concept of web popularity and how it works, intermingling it with what attracts the media and how people react to stories presented in both, thus highlighting a number of issues of the current society who lusts for mystery, scandals and intrigue, and how this tendency can be manipulated. That the whole thing ends up being an uroboros, with Youtube commenting on what the TV channels are saying and vice versa, with each one providing material for the other, also moves into the same direction. The revelation of why the Picket Man is holding the particular sign is also intelligently implemented here, essentially criticizing the occasional excessiveness of the MeToo movement, only for the whole concept to be turned on its head eventually.
Furthermore, Park comments on a number of inherent Internet aspect, as the concept of identity and who is hiding behind anonymity, how one can essentially deal with illegal notions essentially in plain sight, and how manipulative this whole thing can be, particularly for people who do not take what the web (and the news) feed them with a grain of salt.
Lastly, the whole meta approach of a film about shooting a video and streaming on YouTube allows Park to play with even more concepts, adding to the overall entertainment the movie offers. In that regard, also of note is the excellent editing of Yang Dong-yup, who connects the aforementioned aspects of the movie ideally, through a relatively fast pace that also works well. Lastly, the whole meta concept is also amusingly implemented by Oh Tae-kyeong playing a version of himself, with his self-deprecating humor being quite hilarious.
The limitations that apply to all ‘quarantine' movies do apply on “I Haven't Done Anything”, with the whole thing becoming somewhat tedious after a fashion. However, it is easy to say that Park moves beyond these limitations, presenting a movie that is funny, intelligent and rich in context, in one of the best titles of the category.
