The Moonlight of Seoul

Director

Yoon Jong-bin(윤종빈)

Cast

Yoon Kye-sang

Ha Jeong-woo

Yoon Jin-seo

Ma Dong-seok

Lee Seung-min

Yoo Ha-joon

Actor Goes From Killer to Professional Casanova

Actor Ha Jeong-woo has gone from cold-blooded murderer to a professional Casanova whom women pay to be with. In his new movie, “The Moonlight of Seoul” (“Beastie Boys” in Korean), the actor plays a man who serves drinks and dances with women at a host bar. The role is a substantial departure from the brutal killer he played in the hit thriller “The Chaser,” which attracted five million viewers nationwide. In “Moonlight,” Ha plays Jae-hyeon, who lives for the day, talks big and tries to con people. While using his roommate/girlfriend to get 50 million won, he brings other women to their home. Instead of being driven away by his brazenness, plenty of women seem eager to vie for his affection. To perfect his role, Ha said he read interviews of 200 men who worked at host bars and met some of them. He told the Dong-A Ilbo, “Some of these guys are real professionals. They know how to get their clients to open their wallets. They even have detailed manuals to win their hearts.” So what did Ha learn from them? “First, you need to maintain your pride as a man,” he said. “This means you should never let women pay for meals even if she is loaded. Second, you need to give the impression that you are available and accessible so that these women can easily approach you.” Ha is known as an outgoing and energetic person who brings life to the set, but says he is a relatively reserved man. “I rarely talk when I am with my family,” he said. “But my quietness has not exactly worked to my advantage in my career, and that is why I tried to become an outgoing person.” “Moonlight” is the second collaboration between Ha and director Yoon Jong-bin following “The Unforgiven” in 2005. When offered the role of Jae-hyeon while shooting “The Chaser,” Ha immediately accepted without reading the script. “Yoon and I are quite close to each other,” he said. “We watch [Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher] Park Chan-ho’s games together and talk about the English Premier League all the time.” “However, we are perfectly professional when shooting a film, not hesitating to point out what needs improvement in each other’s performance. I tell him when I feel lines do not match the character and ask him to change them.” Ha’s father is actor Kim Yong-geon. On Kim’s opinion of his son’s cinematic success, Ha said his tight-lipped father congratulated him once and that was it, adding Kim does not give him tips or feedback on acting. On what role he wants to play next, Ha was quick to answer “a good-hearted farmer in an inspirational drama,” as if he had waited for the question.

[MOVIE RIVIEW] 'The Moonlight of Seoul' portrays twisted role of men at a host bar

Director Yoon Jong-bin created a favorable buzz in 2006 when he unveiled his thought-provoking debut feature "The Unforgiven," highlighting the hidden talent of actor Ha Jung-woo. Yoon's casting choice turned out to be prescient. Ha is now the most sought-after film star following the runaway success of "The Chaser," a thriller that further showcases the actor's passionate acting spirit. But it seems questionable whether Yoon has made a right casting choice for "The Moonlight of Seoul" (Korean title: "Beastie Boys"), a drama in which Ha is recruited to play a central character for the second time with the same director. The film, to be released on April 30, loosely reflects filmmaker Yoon's continued interest in the painful social trap that puts a stifling screw upon the life of Korean men. Previously, Yoon brought to life the suffocating pain in his award-winning "The Unforgiven" in a way that impressed critics at film festivals. The trouble is that, unlike Yoon's first feature, "The Moonlight of Seoul" is a commercial project which can be easily tossed out at the cutthroat box office unless it's armed with some mainstream appeal. Desperate, cash-strapped men who serve drinks and dance with female clients at what is called a "host bar" is not fantastic subject matter for such mass appeal, to begin with. Petty struggles, emotional tug-of-war, and a hunger for genuine love are juxtaposed with the exotic night life of male hosts, but the plot falters helplessly as if the intoxicated main characters try to remain sober after ceaseless drinking night after night. In the film, Yoon Kye-sang plays Seung-woo, who has recently joined the peculiar nighttime business to stay afloat. His life, as far as he remembers in his dreams, was not always like this. He used to enjoy an affluent life and he knew every corner of Cheongdam-dong where he had lived with his family. For some reason, which is not explained explicitly, his life plunged into poverty, and he is now forced to sell his handsome appearance and refined manners at the bar where dozens of similarly good-looking men await their female clients, most of whom are professional hostesses venting their frustrations with the money they have earned serving men at sleazy bars. Ha Jung-woo's character, Jae-hyeon, is slightly different. He is the so-called PD, or partner director, a host bar equivalent to the madam at a men's club. Jae-hyeon is constantly testing his luck: gambling, lying and cheating on his girlfriend to squee ze out easy money. His world is steadily disintegrating; undaunted, he keeps rolling the dice to get away from an immediate crisis, only to confront another. The host bar is portrayed as a sort of underground sex trade venue where female clients buy the attention and care of young, well-groomed host boys, but the film does not pay due focus to the shady details. Instead, Seung-woo's encounter with Ji-won (Yoon Jin-seo), one of his clients, takes center stage in the plot, bringing to the background the real travails supposedly embedded in the host business. The couple, after a brief honeymoon-like period, falls into the depths of mistrust and deception, a development that pummels the soft-hearted Seung-woo - a melodramatic set-up dragging the host bar drama back to the emotionally abrasive shouting game, plus a widely expected revelation that fails to steer the plot in a meaningful direction. Jae-hyeon comes up with lame excuses around the clock to get by in his debt-laden life, but that's all there is to see. His life is so boringly predictable that even the last-minute twist does not generate the intended impact. Ha Jung-woo's nuanced perf ormance occasionally lightens up the otherwise depressingly static storyline - but doesn't do enough to save the movie. By Yang Sung-jin