“The Piper” Korean Theatrical Poster
Director: Kim Gwang-tae
Cast: Ryu Seung-ryong, Lee Sung-min, Chun Woo-hee, Lee Joon, Goo Seung-hyun, Jeong Kyeong-ho, Kim Jeong-yeong, Park Yoon-seok, Yoon Dae-yeol
Running Time: 119 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The horror movie is an annual staple of commercial Korean cinema, as every summer the multiplexes become filled with largely uninspired and quickly forgotten tales of vengeful spirits and the like. 2015 however was a surprisingly good year for the horror genre, with a number of talented new directors choosing to make their debut within an area of Korean film which has become largely stagnant. Jang Jae-hyeon provided us with the exorcism movie The Priests, Hong Won-chan delivered the serial killer chiller Office, and Yoo Young-seon showed that terror can be found in the workplace just as much as anywhere else with The Wicked.
Another director that weighed in with a horror movie debut is Kim Kwang-tae, who decided to take the interesting approach of adapting the Brothers Grimm tale, The Piped Piper of Hamelin. For anyone not familiar, the tale takes place in the German town of Hamelin during the Middle Ages, a wealthy village that becomes the victim of a significant rat infestation. When a wandering piper stumbles across the village by chance, the mayor offers to pay the piper for him to lead the rats away with his music. The piper duly obliges, leading the rats away from the village. However when the mayor goes back on his promise and refuses to pay up, the piper gets revenge by using his music to lead the children of the village to a grim fate.
The moral of the story of course is the importance of keeping your promises, and this was something Kwang-tae echoed when discussing his reasons behind making The Piper, stating that it was “about the importance of accountability.” In his re-telling, events are transported from Middle Ages Germany to the Korean countryside, shortly after the end of the Korean War.
The role of the piper is given to one of Korea’s most versatile actors, Ryoo Seung-ryong. After playing memorable supporting characters for many years, from the villain of War of the Arrows to the royal aide in Masquerade, Seung-ryong has pushed into leading man territory in recent years. His role as a wrongly accused simpleton in 2013’s Miracle in Cell No. 7 earned him the Best Actor prize at the 50th Grand Bell Awards, and he also took the lead in 2014’s The Target, a remake of the French movie Point Blank. In Kwang-tae’s version Seung-ryong’s piper is also given a young son that acts as his companion, and it’s revealed that the reason for their journey is to see a doctor in Seoul due to the son suffering from tuberculosis.
After staying the night in an abandoned dwelling during a storm, upon waking up to a bright and sunny morning, Seung-ryong discovers that the nights strong winds have revealed a previously hidden trail. Encouraged by his son, the pair decide to follow the trail, at the end of which they discover a village. A sense of foreboding permeates through their arrival, as the villagers working the fields stop and eye the newly arrived pair with obvious suspicion, unsure of what to make of the new arrivals. Thankfully the village mayor, played by Lee Sung-min, welcomes them in, despite his character a little too transparently having ulterior motives to his warm welcome.
For anyone that’s familiar with Korean cinema, the setup for The Piper is alarmingly similar to that of Kang Woo-seok’s 2010 adaption of the Korean webtoon, Moss. The stranger arriving in a mysterious small village, the dubious mayor residing in the house that overlooks the village, even down to a female character who the mayor uses for his own selfish needs. Sung-min’s performance as the mayor also seems to be cut from the same cloth as Jeong Jae-yeong’s mayor in Moss, all of which add up to being so similar that it distracts from becoming fully engaged in the events which are unfolding. This is largely due to the fact that, much like Jae-yong’s turn in Moss, it becomes apparent early on that Sung-min is not the affable character that he presents himself as to Seung-ryong.
The Pied Piper is a very short and simple tale, and could well be interpreted as perfect material for an equally compact and gruesome horror movie. But as previously mentioned, Kwang-tae wanted to do more than make a straight up horror flick, so he fills out the 107 minute runtime with a substantial amount of character development. The issue is, the characters who get the most development don’t necessarily need it. Seung-ryong seems to be mildly echoing his turn in Miracle in Cell No. 7 here, as his piper often comes across as hopelessly naïve and innocent. It’s revealed his wife was killed in the war, which was followed by his son becoming sick, however his cheerful demeanour and unquestioning approach make him seem more like a gullible fool than anything else.
On the other end of the spectrum, Cheon Woo-hee, who plays a character being forcibly pressured into being a shaman for the village, is given very little to do other than come across as a bag of nerves. Likewise for Lee Joon, who after showing so much promise in 2013’s Rough Play, has returned to acting solely in TV dramas. Here he makes a welcome return to big screen productions, playing the son of Sung-min, however apart from acting like an angst ridden teenager who hints at having darker intentions, he’s left largely on the side-lines.
Speaking of characters being left on the side-lines, there are portions of the runtime when you’d swear the main attraction for a tale such as this – the rats themselves – have been all but forgotten about. There is indeed a rat infestation, but so much time is spent focusing on an unspoken event from the past, that combined with a misplaced romantic subplot, the son’s tuberculosis, and the mayors ulterior motives, often the rodents almost feel like an afterthought.
However when they do come, the scenes are suitably impressive, as a legion of the CGI created vermin are sent scurrying through the pristine scenery of Gangwon Province to the tune of the piper. The reveal that the rats have a taste for human flesh leads to the expected twist on the story that, once betrayed, Seung-ryong sends them straight back to where they came from, leading to a suitably gruesome conclusion. Even during the rat filled finale though, there’s still a sense of restraint that stops it from being completely satisfying. Seung-ryong’s transition from the happy-go-lucky piper, to revenge seeking father, is surprisingly given the least amount of time out of all the plot points, and as a result is never entirely convincing. The most important part of the tale feels almost like a footnote, rendering the abduction of the children to a few minutes at the end of the movie.
Knowing that Kwang-tae wanted to deliver a deeper meaning with The Piper, admittedly a lot can be read into from the finale. With the recent criticism of the Korean government and its seeming decision to whitewash the country’s history (see the first paragraph of my review for The Tiger: An Old Hunter’s Tale), the sight of the villages children, willingly following a figure of authority into a place from which they won’t be able to escape, is a powerful one. It’s just questionable if this was the most appropriate genre to place it in.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6.5/10
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