Secretly, Greatly (Ŭnmilhage widaehage) dir. by Chang Ch’ŏlsu (review)

Director Chang Ch’ŏlsu’s Secretly, Greatly (Ŭnmilhage widaehage, 2013) continues a successful South Korean box office blockbuster formula: center your film on North Korea’s formidable military, especially its special forces units who are commanded to infiltrate South Korea as sleeper agents. These antagonists are then represented as humanized individuals who are allowed to form emotional and even romantic bonds with South Koreans despite over half a century of political division. This was, in part, Kang Chegyu’s Koreanized blockbuster concept for Swiri (Shiri, 1999). Since then, ranking South Korean action films dealing with North Korea’s formidable military and its policy of unification by force have guaranteed entry into each year’s top box office listing. To name just a few, this list includes J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (Kongdong kyŏngbi kuyŏk JSA, directed by Pak Ch’anuk, 2000), Silmido (directed by Kang Usŏk, 2003), Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (T’aegŭkki hwinarimyŏ, directed by Kang Chegyu, 2004), Welcome to Dongmakgol (Welk’ŏm t’u tongmakkol, directed by Pak Kwanghyŏn, 2005), 71: Into the Fire (P’ohwa sok ŭro, directed by John H. Lee, 2010), and The Berlin File (Perŭllin, directed by Yu Sŭngwan, 2013). Secretly, Greatly is the latest film to follow in this genre lineage and succeeded in setting new box office records: the highest number of tickets presold²; the highest single day opening of all time with 497,560 tickets³; fastest film to sell 1 million tickets (36 hours),⁴ 2 million tickets (seventy-two hours),⁵ 3 million tickets (five days),⁶ and 4 million tickets (eight days)⁷; largest single day admissions for a domestic film at 919,027 admissions on June 6, 2013⁸; and the highest grossing webtoon-based film.⁹ It would end 2013 with nearly 7 million admissions to end in sixth place at the box office.¹⁰

South Korean cinema is known for its genre hybridity. Secretly, Greatly does not disappoint in this field since the narrative encompasses the thriller, comedy, satire, fantasy, social critique, confessional, action, tragedy, and of course melodrama. They show up in the main narrative as well as in the film’s many subplots. The film also engages with media hybridization since it began life first as a webtoon originally titled Covertness (Ŭnmirhage widaehage, directed by Hun, 2010) that garnered 40 million Internet hits.¹¹ Media hybridization is further enhanced with the casting of three of the top “flower boy” idol stars from top K-drama hits: Kim Soo Hyun as the lead protagonist Lt. Won Ryu-hwan in Dream High (directed by Yi Ŭngbok, 2011–12), and You Who Came from the Stars/My Love from the Star (Pyŏl esŏ on kŭdae, directed by Chang T’aeyu, 2013–14), who is accompanied by Park Ki Woong as Ri Hae-rang in Bridal Mask (Kaksa t’al, directed by Yun Sŏngsik, 2012) and Lee Hyun Woo as Ri Hae-jin in To the Beautiful You (Arŭmdaun kŭdae ege, directed by Chŏn Kisang, 2012). Secretly, Greatly therefore continues a tradition of creating successful cinematic adaptations of Internet-based original narratives such as My Sassy Girl (Yŏpkijŏgin kŭ nyŏ, directed by Kwak Chaeyong, 2001), Neighbors (Iut saram, directed by Kim Hwi, 2012), and 26 Years (26-nyŏn, directed by Cho Kŭnhyŏn, 2012). The film’s popularity at the box office was also due to its appeal to teenage girls.

Add to this mix a layer of identity hybridity with undercover aliases (designed to obfuscate their formidable training and brutal selection process) as a developmentally disabled man, a talentless rock and roll guitarist, and a shy high school student, respectively, and the director creates a scenario in which their daily existence is in many respects more unendurable than what they had to overcome to receive their current assignments. While reuniting the Korean peninsula is the stated objective, the comic first...