Arahan

Sang-hwan is an ordinary patrolman who cannot fight and falls over chasing a thief. One day he runs into old masters living in the city. They are the last practitioners of Taoist martial arts, living normal lives: one sells property, one runs a greengrocer's. They tell him he is the chosen one. Nobody believes it, least of all him. The subject is not heroism but somebody with nothing that would earn him the role. Sang-hwan never becomes special by the end either; he only learns not to run. The form is a genre mix: martial arts, comedy and city film. The fights are wire work and deliberately pitched at comic-book exaggeration, while the settings are entirely everyday, so one bout happens in an apartment block car park. Ryoo Seung-wan directs. His brother Ryoo Seung-bum leads, the two having worked together from the start of their careers. Ahn Sung-ki plays one of the masters. The production is one of the examples of the period in which Korean genre cinema opened up to mixtures like this. Who it is for: viewers who like Korean action comedy and fantasy embedded in daily life. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a serious martial arts film; the narrative keeps sliding into jokes and the rules are elastic.