Director Jo Baerun is making his feature debut sporting a tale set in the spritely atmosphere of a high school front for an underground fight club in the new movie, Gang.
Starring Cha Ji-hyeok and Cho Seon-gi, the film centers on a student who, after being shipped off to Daehun High School, Korea’s worst institution, pledges to be the ‘Jjang’, or the top gangster. Obviously, he’s going to have to face down the competition fist-and-foot if he’s going to climb the hierarchy.
The film’s official synopsis at HanCinema partly quotes Jung Han-seok’s programming notes from its Busan premiere back in October. It doesn’t hold back much on comparisons to other niche Asian coming-of-age and off-beat oddities like David Fincher’s Fight Club and hits like Volcano High, Friend and Die Bad among others.
It’s a boldly contextual move, in my opinion, while I certainly think the film can stand on its own two feet judging by the short and long trailers making the rounds. The action looks pretty passable as well, and now it looks to thrill wider audiences starting in January.
The film also stars Ok Yun-jung, Baek Jae-min, Lee Jeong-hyeon, Kim Daehan and Kim Ra-hui. Keep your eyes peeled for any acquisition news along the way.
