Review: High Society
Korean filmmaker Byun Hyuk is no stranger to telling layered stories of forbidden love and exploring human nature’s darker urges. Hyuk had not released a film since 2009, but his return to filmmaking, the Netflix original High Society, is no different. In High Society, Hyuk tells the story of husband, Jang Tae-joon (Hae-il Park) and wife, Oh Soo-Yeon (Soo Ae) who want to enter the elite societies of their respective careers by any means necessary. Tae-joon wants to enter the political world and Soo-Yeon wants to be the director of an upscale art gallery. The film is innocent at first, but as the plot begins to develop and the corruption comes out, Hyuk’s intelligent form of filmmaking becomes apparent; making the film much more than it seems.
So often stated, the music of a film is usually one of the first things you notice when trying to get a feel of the mood of the movie. Whether it’s a score or soundtrack, music creates the atmosphere and helps the viewer know where to place their apprehensions of the plot. However, this is not the case for High Society. The score of this film, composed by Young-gyu Jang (composer for Train to Busan), is wonderful. It’s light, mostly being pianos and string orchestras, and it’s used sparingly. There also isn’t much percussion in the score, which is why the music doesn’t do much for the tempo for the film. Hyuk not overusing the score allowed for him to have scenes where he would use loud and dramatic music, and in these scenes, the music was able emphasize how over the top those scenes were meant to be.
In reference to the beginning of the film being innocent and the music not keeping the tempo of the film, the innocence and mood of this film are created and executed through the cinematography. Hyuk and cinematographer, Se-Seung Park, use clever lighting methods along with angles and depth to create the aura of the film. The film starts out bright and everywhere the characters go is full of light. Even at night, when they attend events, the rooms are brightly lit, allowing the chandeliers and jewelry to shimmer. As the movie goes on and the story begins to unravel, the light begins to dim. Rooms we see bright earlier, are dark, full of shadows and pale shades of mute colors. The camera’s angles and positions now also shift. Where we used to see the joy in the couple’s faces from their perspective or shot up close, we now see them further away. Watching from a distance as the actors have their heads down creates a sense of us watching someone when they don’t want to be seen. Along with this, there are uncomfortable scenes for the characters where the camera is tilted on an uneven axis, an uneasy view for the viewer. Another sense of depth that Hyuk uses comes in scenes where Tae-joon and Soo-Yeon are addressing large crowds after shameful situations. These scenes are shot in extremely large rooms full of people and the camera is positioned further back in the room. This gives us a view of how many people are being addressed and how much pressure is on Tae-joon and Soo-Yeon.
Along with the cinematography, the acting in this film is superb. The portrayals of Tae-joon and Soo-Yeon are done so well by Hae-il Park and Soo Ae. The characters themselves juxtapose each other; Tae-joon being more naïve than Soo-Yeon. Park does a wonderful job of showing how naïve Tae-joon is and how scared and upset he was when he found out the truth of his political life. Soo-Yeon shows a wide range of emotions; being stern, crying, in pain, lustful, or joyful. She put on a masterful performance in this film. The rest of the cast was fantastic as well. The gangster is intimidating and slightly crazy. The man he works for, Han Yong-seok (Je-Moon Yoon), who is pulling all the of strings and practically controls Tae-joon and Soo-Yeon, is maniacal. Hyuk made some interesting decisions writing Han’s character, like having him enjoy beating up his business associates in a wrestling mask. His character was unpredictable and interesting (to the say the least), and this is credit to Je-Moon Yoon’s acting and Hyuk’s excellent writing.
Byun Hyuk has been making films for decades now and is extremely talented at doing so. The culmination of his vision and the cast & crew all doing stellar jobs for this film should be commended. It should be noted that this film is a Netflix original. It has been very interesting to see how Netflix now is expanding into supporting international filmmakers, allowing viewers to see how talented artists like Hyuk are. Netflix supporting him is even more amazing because Hyuk hadn’t made a film in almost a decade, prior to High Society. Hopefully this will get Hyuk to continue making his wonderful films.
