NYAFF 09 Review: DACHIMAWA LEE

[Thanks to Charles Webb for the following review.]

Director Seung-wan Ryoo’s spy farce Dachimawa Lee is ostensibly set during WWII when the Japanese were the big villains of Asia and occupied nations formed their own resistance to this invading force. But Mr. Ryoo and his screenwriting partner Hyeok-jae Kwon aren’t interested in just sending up espionage films of the genre, but instead creating a heady mashup of eras and tone birthing the wildly broad Dachimawa Lee.

The film follows the titular superspy (Won-hie Lim) as he attempts to retrieve a golden Buddha statue containing the identities of a network of Korean resistance fighters. For a secret agent, Lee is certainly beloved (and recognized) by his countrymen, cowing men and making beautiful young women swoon. Yeon-ja (Hyo-jin Kong) is one of these women as is Mari (Se-heon Park). Both are at one point Lee’s partner and neither seems to be able to get his attention long enough to make something happen.

Lee is dedicated to Korea and his countrymen to an absurd level – one that would drive lesser men to suicidal acts to prove their devotion. Thankfully for him the writers have invested him with a nearly endless arsenal of abilities, making him multilingual, agile, able to dodge bullets, and versed in a range of martial arts. Well, I think he is – one of the film’s early self-deprecating gags is the nature of low budget, under-choreographed fights as Lee and one of his opponents flail about wildly until something happens.

Filmmakers tread a fine line when making a character as outlandish as Lee, particularly as played by Mr. Lim. The actor is unassuming in figure, with a round, rubbery and expressive face. We’re lead to believe he’s equally a genius spy and bumbling savant as the story pushes him from scene to scene. One film that did this quite well was the recent OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006) does this quite well giving us a spy who at first glance would seem to be competent (but under the surface is actually quite clueless). I would argue that Dachimawa Lee overplays its hand somewhat, making the character too cartoonish and leaving little to hold the entire film together.

It’s not half bad as a farce. In fact, it elicited genuine laughter from me a couple of times. It moves along briskly from one set piece to the next under the philosophy that if a joke doesn’t work one shouldn’t worry since another will be along presently. As the lead Won-hie Lim does an admirable job of maintaining the energy necessary for the film in some cases literally flinging himself into the scene to make a gag work (or at least his stunt man would). I actually quite liked the supporting cast (a standout being Sueng-beom Ryu as the slippery Border Lynx). The movie even threw in a well-executed, frenetic fight scene 2/3rds of the way in and one can’t argue with that.

It’s just a little more broad than I would like in the beginning, ultimately finding its footing at the midway point as the scenes become a bit more focused and the gags become (somewhat) less scatological.

One thing: in watching this film the viewer will note that most if not all of the cast is South Korean. There are, however, campy Chinese and Japanese villains attempting to thwart our hero leading to the tricky decision to have South Korean actors play caricatures of “Mandarin” collaborators and Japanese occupation agents. There are buck teeth and Fu Manchu moustaches involved. While I can say the individual scenes were funny I can’t deny that there was an uncomfortable edge to it that went from farce to outright meanness.

Review by Charles Webb.