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Film review of “The Plot”: Korean remake of Soi Cheang’s “Accident” is too flashy for its own good

Theo

2/5 stars

The thriller by Hong Kong director Soi Cheang Pou-sois from 2009 Accident is based on a premise so effective in its simplicity that it could be used almost anywhere. The only real surprise is that it took 15 years for the first international remake to appear, and it comes not from Hollywood but from South Korea.

In the original film Louis Koo Tin Lok plays the leader of a gang that stages elaborate murders to look like accidents. When a member of his own team is killed on the job, he feels distrust and paranoia.
Gang Dong-won (estate agents) takes on the role of the tormented architect of death Young-il in Lee Yo-sup’s Korean reinterpretation, The plot.
When Young-il’s team – consisting of Lee Mi-sook’s aging femme fatale, Lee Hyun-wook’s transvestite and Tang Jun-sang’s rookie – was first introduced, it was still reeling from the death of a teammate (Lee Jong-suk).

Making matters worse, their next target is a prominent politician (played by Kim Hong-pa) whose daughter (played by Jung Eun-chae) wants to take him out of office permanently.

As the media circus surrounding their target escalates, Young-il begins to suspect that the mysterious insurance broker Lee Chi-hyun (Lee Moo-saeng) may be conspiring with the rest of his team.

Lee Moo-saeng as mysterious insurance broker Lee Chi-hyun in a still from The Plot.

Key to AccidentThe success of The Movie rested on the stripped-down simplicity of its execution, which, through sheer, iron-clad commitment to the task at hand, overcame concerns about the implausible, Heath Robinson-esque murders the film depicts.

Outside of these highly charged standard situations, which are perhaps better suited to a Final goal Horror movie, Cheang‘s direction smoldered with palpable paranoid intensity.

The Korean cinematic feeling demands more bravura. The plot complicates the premise considerably by staging even more grandiose accidents, inserting a dizzying number of confusing flashbacks, and introducing countless supporting characters; all accompanied by a pounding, headache-inducing score.

Where Cheang internalized his protagonist’s growing unease, it’s reminiscent of the way Gene Hackman’s surveillance expert slowly falls apart in the 1970s classic. The conversationDirector Lee is not so good at aesthetic subtleties.

Buried somewhere deep inside The plot is a strand of legitimate social commentary about the public’s simmering distrust of traditional institutions such as government, business, and the media, and our willingness to indulge fringe groups that spread baseless, sensationalist conspiracy theories.

A still from The Plot.

If Lee manages to say anything of substance on this subject, it’s by chance. Like the murders that are so meticulously executed on screen, everything quickly becomes glossed over and descends into chaos.

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