‘Along with the Gods’ director says Korean movies are catching up with Hollywood
In ‘The Last 49 Days’, Kim Yong-hwa takes a look at the past of the three grim reapers when they were humans 1,000 years ago
Director Kim Yong-hwa of the Along With the Gods series is known for playing with the formula for success in Korean films – humorous and lighthearted at first, intriguing and tear-jerking at the climax. Talented in making audiences laugh and cry, the filmmaker is back with Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days, the second instalment of the webtoon-turned-film.
The plot of The Last 49 Days follows on from where the first film, The Two Worlds, left off. The three agents of the afterlife – Gangrim (played by Ha Jung-woo), Haewonmak (Ju Ji-hoon) and Lee Deok-choon (Kim Hyang-gi) – try to ward off the guardians of the underworld which are trying to prevent their client Kim Soo-hong (Kim Dong-wook) from passing through underworld trials.
“There are three layers to this movie in which the plot moves between the underworld and the real world: Gangrim and Soo-hong’s adventure to the underworld trials, Haewonmak and Deok-choon’s quarrels with Seongju, the House Guardian God, and the three grim reapers’ life and death stories when they were humans 1,000 years ago,” Kim said.
“Weaving such extensive stories into a film without holes in the plot and inconsistencies was the hardest part and thus it required a long editing process,” he added.
The Last 49 Days, released last Wednesday, set a new record for opening day attendance, drawing 1.25 million people, surpassing the previous record set by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom with 1.18 million, according to the Korean Film Council data. The mega sequel attracted more than 5 million people as of Sunday, according to its distributor Lotte Entertainment, and broke the record for the shortest amount of time to bring 5 million people to the Korean box office.
The director cautiously said the secret behind the movie’s success across Asia might be its suggestive melodrama, realistic visual effects and the unusual subject of grim reapers moving between the underworld and the real world.
“I was taken by surprise when I saw the term ‘tear-jerking’ in foreign reviews. That’s when I realised that a powerful story could evoke emotional responses from global audiences,” Kim said. Following the success of the first film, the cast and creative team launched promotional events in Asia in Taiwan on Sunday.
As for differences from the first instalment, Kim said, “If the first film moved you to tears, the second part will make you cry from the heart.”
Compared with The Two Worlds which had a fairly straightforward plot and humour, The Last 49 Days has more story layers and the underlying message of forgiveness as well as some fun elements and visual effects.