Kim Byung-jun was born in Chuncheon in 1976. He graduated from Kangwon National University's Department of Philosophy and Hanyang University's Graduate School of Theater and Film (MFA). He directed four shoes and “Risk Society” is his first feature.
“Risk Society” is screening at Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival
Back in 2001, Young-gil was a delivery man, distributing goods in his truck and dating beautiful Ha-rim. At one point, he wins a lot of money in a casino, and thus promises to marry her and buy a luxurious apartment where they can live together with her mother. Some years later, Young-gil is in a bottomless pit, with his addiction to gambling having ruined him financially, to the point that he pawns his truck to Jung-sun, a loan shark, only to get a loan to gamble more. His fiance is fed up with him, and his life, in general, is in shambles. Jin-su, a high school social studies teacher also finds himself in the same predicament, although he actually has a bold plan to permanently escape his loaners, although not his fate. Eventually, the lives of the two cross.
Kim Byung-jun falls in one of the most usual reefs first time feature directors who have shot a number of shorts usually fall. Instead of coming up with a single, compact narrative, he tries to combine a number of completely different stories in order, essentially, to extend his movie to feature duration. In that fashion, the story of Young-gil's and the teacher's addiction eventually becomes a crime thriller, while there are also elements of family drama through a relative that is quite talented in music, all of which are forcefully connected to each other in a way that defies logic.
Check also this interview
An additional problem emerges from the pacing, as it is difficult to understand the timeline of each successive scene. For example, during one night in the area everything is completely covered in snow, while the next morning snow is nowhere to be found. The thankfully few back and forths in the timeline also do not make sense, while the movie definitely overextends its welcome with the hospital scene, which is again disconnected, as much as the coincidence met close to the finale, which moves the movie into a distinct melodramatic path. In that fashion, the editing of Yoo Ji-min emerges as quite problematic in both regards.
On the other hand, the main comments Kim wanted to present are quite well communicated. The gambling obsession and how it can destroy people is the main one here, with Kim showing that the way his characters are constantly ‘begging' for money are exactly the same with drug addicts. The fact that Young-gil meets a man that practically presents his own future if he continues on the same path but still cannot get away, despite the efforts of a number of people around him, stresses the remark even more, in the main source of drama in the movie. The connection of casinos and loan sharks is also depicted, with the way Jung-sun celebrates the building of a new one in the area showcasing the fact in the most eloquent fashion. Lastly, the impact addiction has on the families of the addicts is also presented, if briefly.
Furthermore, the dark and gritty cinematographer of Na Tae-woong captures the setting in an approach that is bleak and filled with darkness and gray tones, thus mirroring the lives of the protagonists to perfection. Lastly, Park Woo-geon as Young-gil and Jang Jun-whee as Jin-su give excellently measured performances that still manage to highlight the dead end paths of their character in the most elaborate fashion.
Despite the positives, though, the writing and the directing result in a film that becomes difficult to follow after a fashion, as this collage of different ideas definitely does not work for a narrative which ends up being unnecessarily convoluted.
