Gangster High (Korean SE DVD)
The film opens on a prisoner’s feet, in shackles, as an officer reads out a list of offenses this person is responsible for; from assault to murder. The camera follows up the prisoner’s legs, up his torso to reveal the angelic face of Sang-ho (Jeong Kyeong-ho), a high school student. We are then cast back to how he and his band of high school friends formed a football team called ‘The Tigers’ and how they quickly become involved with gang fights/feuds with a rival school called ‘TNT’… the consequences of these petty squabbles are made apparent from the officers report: but who are the victims mentioned on the report?
“Boys will be boys” it was once said. Too bad that today’s youth seem determined to become adult all too soon. They may act the part, but they’ll never be mentally prepared for it; and director Park Ki-hyeong (Whispering Corridors and Acacia) is here to show the affects of such mentality: it’s not pretty, but it’s an important message about the current trend in today’s society that seems eager to skip the best parts of coming-of-age – childhood. The only time these boys appear to act their age is when they are on the soccer field, carefree and uncaring of what could (and will) happen to them. Once outside, in the real world, they are frequenting clubs, getting with chicks and pounding booze. Oh, and beating/slashing the living-shit out of each other with steel pipes, hatchets and knives.
The movie succeeds thanks to its excellent cast, high school violence is never an easy subject to tackle, but with such lovable youths it’s easy to care for them and truly feel for them; and that the brutality that ensues is truly felt and stunningly effective. The violence is frequent and harsh, maybe too much for some people in fact, but it never appears gratuitous: in fact it seems that certain scenes are filmed from a child’s point-of-view: picturing themselves as heroes and deserving of the oh-so-cool slow-mo before the shit hits the fan and they realize how the big, bad world REALLY functions and come face to face with the cold, hard consequence of their actions.
Alarming as it is shocking; Gangster High will not play well with most audiences due to the graphic portrayal of teen-on-teen violence. It’s a furious scream at adulthood and its part played in allowing our children to skip an integral part of their life. The image of a young man spread out on a cold, steel morgue slab drives home the message more than words possibly could. Above all, Gangster High shows the true face of violence; ugly and ultimately preventable. Park Ki-hyeong may have departed from the horror genre, but it’s a move that has produced his most frightening movie to date.
