110 minutes, 35mm, in Korean with English subtitles
Directed by: HAN Jae-rim
Starring: SONG Kang-ho, PARK Ji-young, OH Dal-soo

Watch [the trailer] on YouTube.

Showtimes: FRI June 29, 9:00pm at the IFC Center - SOLD OUT!
MON July 2, 9:15pm at the IFC Center [Buy Tickets].
Director HAN Jae-rim will attend both screenings.
Note: "Buy Tickets" links will take you to the IFC Center website (for shows at IFC Center) and to Japan Society website (for shows at Japan Society). Tickets for each venue must be purchased separately.

Straight outta Cannes comes the premiere of this Korean gangster movie that
pulls a masterful bait and switch on the audience, rapidly darkening from
knockabout comedy to desperate drama in its second half. SONG Kang-ho (The
Host) delivers the performance of his career as In-gu, a minor league
gangster trying to land the first big deal of his life, literally beating
the competition (with pipes) and breaking up construction sites with an army
of henchmen swinging Louisville Sluggers. When the dust settles and the
wounds scab over he pries himself out of smoke-filled karaoke rooms and
stumbles home to his family who are less than impressed with his criminal
career: when he's not humiliating his daughter by bribing, blackmailing and
intimidating her teachers he¹s being kicked onto the couch by his fed up
wife.

Just when you think this is a big budget, Korean version of The Sopranos,
director HAN Jae-rim (Rules of Dating) pulls the rug out, engineering an escalating
series of emergencies that hit In-gu from both sides: bloody film noir
complications and wrenching family dramas combine to beat him down like a
pair of hammers. Most movies shellac their gangsters with a veneer of cool
because deep down we want to buy into the myth of the glamorous life of
crime, but Director HAN and SONG Kang-ho aren't going to rest until every
last myth we use to comfort ourselves about gangsters is ripped into bloody,
black shreds. Opening at number one at the Korean box office, this movie is
the closest thing to a rich, sprawling crime novel you'll see onscreen all
year.

Director HAN Jae-rim's notes about SHOW MUST GO ON:

How SONG Kang-ho joined the production

SONG Kang-ho …

While I was mapping out the film, I realized that SONG was the perfect actor to capture and portray the not-so-serious yet not-so-light irony of life I wanted to show through this film. I had met SONG through director LIM Pil-sung of <Antarctic Journal>, SONG ' s previous film and was able to talk about my ideas on this film. Meanwhile, SONG was impressed with my last film <Rules of Dating > and decided to take the offer of joining on. The script was not ready at the time but was later perfected after many discussions with the actor.

The meaning of the Korean title, <Wonderful World> and English title, <The Show Must Go On>

The terms ‘ wonderful ' and ‘ world ' have a sense of elegance and decorum in meaning. But the real world that we live in is far from these terms. We are constantly hit from this and that and struggling to live. I wanted to describe our lives in a paradoxical title.

The second reason is the main character ' s dream of wanting to live happy with his family. That is, in his own unique dream world, he thinks there will be happiness if he lives in a good house with economic success and stability with his family.

This is probably the dream of all the men of the households in Korea.

I decided on the English title, <The Show Must Go On> after watching the last scene of the film. After sending his family abroad, the man mumbles ‘ Why me …' as he cries and picks up broken pieces of a bowl. I thought the English title suits the ‘ foolish ' man ' s great struggle to go out and make money to support his family.

And on a personal note, I ' m a big fan of Pink Floyd.