Director Kim Soo-yong is best recognized now for his adaptations of important Korean literary works, such as Mist (1967) and Seaside Village (1965), or for his later, stranger modernist films Night Voyage (1977) and Splendid Outing (1977). But at the very start of his long career, he was known in the film industry as a “comedy specialist.” It may not have been his genre of choice, but reviews from the time suggest that he excelled at it. So it’s a shame that prints no longer exist for all five of the comedies he made between 1958-1960.
An Upstart was produced by major studio Shin Film in 1961 and released in July, just two months after the military coup that brought Park Chung-hee to power. At first glance it looks to be little more than a star vehicle for comedian Koo Bong-seo, whose name is even included in the Korean title (“Koo Bong-seo’s Striking It Rich”). But it is significantly more than that. Directed with obvious care and creativity, this is an entertaining film that stands out for its playful manipulations of sound and image, the strong acting of the cast as a whole, and especially the nuanced performance of its star.
Maeng Soon-jin (Koo) is an ordinary salaryman, not particularly special in any way, although the landlord’s daughter (Do) and his boss’s daughter (Jeon) each seem to find him charming. He has money troubles in the sense that his meager salary is already spent by the time he receives it, but his resigned approach to life’s pitfalls helps to see him through. One day, out of the blue, he is visited by an American woman (who, inexplicably, speaks passable Korean). She tells him she is the widow of a U.S. veteran whose life Maeng once saved during the Korean War. Recently deceased, the man has included Maeng in his will. The payment due to him is $20 million.
$20 million is a decent chunk of cash even by today’s inflated standards; in poverty-stricken postwar Korea, it was an absurdly large figure. News of the inheritance propels Maeng onto the front pages and he becomes an instant celebrity. At once, people who formerly treated him with disdain are groveling at his feet. But Maeng is ill-prepared to deal with the ramifications of his sudden riches.
As a light satire, An Upstart is not so much laugh-out-loud funny as it is consistently inventive, engaging, and amusing. The look on Maeng’s face as he tries to make sense of his situation is one of the film’s enduring images. Pulled and pushed in every direction, his expression remains much the same: all he wants is to find a bit of stability in this crazy world. And ultimately, though the film never gives off airs of trying to lecture its viewers, it forces you to consider some of the absurdities inherent in vast wealth. Although it certainly doesn’t look like a film that is critiquing the capitalist system, in the end, it sort of does.
Koo, a former stage actor, very quickly rose to stardom after making his film debut in 1957.
People say that audiences would start laughing as soon as his face appeared onscreen, before he even cracked a joke. But even though he was best known for an exaggerated, slapstick kind of humor, he was capable of turning in performances of surprising nuance and depth. This film provides a glimpse of both sides: the broad humor that made him so popular, and the finely tuned acting for which he never received proper recognition.
Although at times he seems to be channeling Chaplin (his acknowledged role model), he maintains perfect comic poise while imparting a real humanity to his character. As much as the film benefits from Kim Soo-yong’s inspired direction and the great performances of the other actors, in the end Koo well deserves his place in the film’s title.
Darcy Paquet