The Hypocrites (2015) Extended ~ 위선자들, Wi-Seon-Ja-Deul

The Hypocrites (2015) Extended ~ 위선자들, Wi-Seon-Ja-Deul is a Korean movie. The story lines: Does the country have to compensate for a case against those socially weak? Sexual favors and harassment by the high class society, weak females of the society send them a warning. So-yeon is a college student who sues the government for not being able to protect the socially weak from sexual favors. She goes on national television to talk about this case. Hae-yeong is a broadcasting anchor who hosts the show and the panel starts to battle about the matter of sexual favors. Uncensored words go back and forth as the debate goes on and the initial topic of sexual favors turns into a talk about the basic laws that the government must live by and its problems as well as the duplicity of the higher social class. The debate turns into harsh words and pointing fingers while the director of the broadcasting station instigates them to do better for improved viewing percentage . So-yeon is alone in the hall after everyone’s left and she opens her mouth “There's no seduction I can't refuse...” AKA 위선자들, Wi-Seon-Ja-Deul Directed by Kim Jin-hong, 김진홍 Screenplay by Kim Choong-ryeol, 김충렬 Stars: Kwon Min-joong, 권민중, Kim Jeong-gyoon, 김정균, Jang Doo-i, 장두이, Choi Holley, 최할리, Shin So-mi, 신소미, Kyung Joon, 경준 Runtime: 101min Release date in South Korea : 2015/11/26 Review: So-yeon (played by Song Seo-yool) was once a cheerful college student with a typical goofy college romance. Then a series of lurid events sent her life spinning toward the cynical. One highly publicized courtroom case later, the issue comes into the public forum. Given how ever-so-complicated the ethical issues are in sexual and legal morality, what better way to shine light on the issues than through a political talk program? It's easy to blame the panel...except for the most part they do in fact have some relevant expertise. Chang-ho (played by Jang Doo-i) is a lawyer. Jee-man (played by Kim Jeong-gyoon) is a culture critic, whatever that is. In-gyeong (played by Shin So-mi) is a novelist. Maybe that's relevant? Jin-ah (played by Kwon Min-joong) who's more well known for provoking controversy than actually saying anything meaningful but whatever. These people are all (kind of) professionally successful in a way relevant to the topic at hand, so they must know something...right? "The Hypocrites" is an attack on the process of intellectual discussion. The various panelists aren't actually interested in resolving the thorny ethical question of sexual favors and agency so much as they are in scoring smarmy one-liners against each other. Ironically, even though the issue of sexual favors is oriented to adults by definition, in temperament the characters frequently come off more like bickering children trying to pretend like they're smarter than they really are. Note that So-yeon is the only character on stage who can really claim to still be a kid- that's the whole reason she went public in the first place. So-yeon was really hurt by her experiences and was hoping for some sort of moral absolution. But she can't get that from the talking heads of the panel, because they've effectively completely divorced their personal moral frameworks from anything that could possibly be useful in an advisory context. It's no coincidence that the character who's best able to manage the game here is the most shameless one. "The Hypocrites" is a bitterly cynical product, and at times even seemed directed at me personally. I'm a critic, and realistically speaking, I'm probably not much better than Jee-man. I pretend to be neutral as best I can but the reality is I have opinions too and just because I'm good at stating them subtly doesn't make me objective. Jee-man's full name in Korean, by the way, means "but", and that's an effective description of his character as a whole. Yet for all this I found myself rather enjoying "The Hypocrites", because the main point it makes is pretty unavoidable. Women like So-yeon have not, can not, and never will be able to solve their problems by appealing to society as a whole, because the opinion-movers in society are deceptive self-aggrandizing apes wearing fancy suits. Even by the standards of the genre that's about as vicious as satire gets- attacking the commentators themselves. The weird thing is, by participating in the process even as a spectator I don't feel that much more superior. After all, "The Hypocrites" feed on our attention, growing ever stronger while So-yeon mourns the lack of answers. Review by William Schwartz ----------------------- o0o ----------------------- Subscribe MeloDrama:    / topkorea