Mikes Film Talk

The 2013 thriller Flu AKA Gamgi is a priceless pandemic picture. Predating the COVID-19 years by a considerable amount, it does seem to signpost what the world was going to experience.

At the time of the film, there was widespread concern that the bird flu, and then the swine flu, was going to be the next pandemic. It is, therefore, not surprising that Gamgi, or Flu, decided to go with the avian flu as their boogeyman. This priceless picture about a highly contagious virus that threatens to overtake the whole of Korea hits the nail on the head.

South Korean Cinema is adept at producing some nail biting horror/Sci Fi/Thrillers. Train to Busan, for example, killed the zombie film genre in 2016. These filmmakers are masters.

The story & Main Cast

Starring Hyuk Jang (Please Teach Me English, Maybe) and Soo Ae (Midnight FM, Mask) and directed by Sung-su Kim (who also directed Jang in Please Teach Me English) Flu starts off rather light-hearted, almost comical in nature.

Here is where the two leads “meet cute” and the audience knows that they will become an “item” before the film ends. Jang, plays an emergency rescue technician (Ji-Koo) who helps Dr. In-Hye (Soo Ae) out of her dangling car before it crashes to the bottom of a chasm. While Ji-Koo has been instantly smitten, the doctor is not impressed as her dress was torn in the rescue.

Later, when Jang tries to get on her good side, she accuses him of being “stuck up” because of his job. When she approaches him to get her purse back, because of some important data she needs at work, he refuses. He then changes his mind and retrieves her purse. He meets her daughter Mirre, Min-ah Park The two strike up an immediate bond.

The Flu is nasty

At the start of the film, human traffickers are closing up a shipping container of immigrants who want admittance to South Korea for work.Only one man is sick. When the load of people arrive at Bundang, all the immigrants are dead bar one. He escapes when the two local traffickers come to open up the container. One of the men is infected and he starts the contagion in the town.

The avian flu spreads quickly. It is an airborne virus. Soon people are dropping to the ground spouting blood and covered in a rash. Medical authorities race to find the escaped survivor to develop an antibody. Meanwhile the professional politicians take over and make things worse.

South Korean Cinema Rocks

South Korean cinema regularly produces films that are of top quality and this movie is no exception. It is easy to get caught up in the action. It is unrelenting and by the end of the film the viewer is exhausted, but well entertained. Hyuk Jang proves he can do a lot more than comedy in a performance that runs the gamut of emotions.

Sung Soo Kim directs and co-writes this one and he does indeed knock it out of the metaphorical park here. Casting Hyuk, was a masterful move. Clearly Sung Soo enjoyed working with the actor on Please Teach me English.

The pairing of this charismatic actor with Soo-Ae, who was brilliant in the 2010 thriller Midnight FM, was casting perfection. They have an onscreen chemistry that hums like an electrical current on steroids. The scope of the film is impressive with set pieces that includes massive quarantine camps, and using the entire backdrop of Bundang to good effect.

It runs long at two hours and one minute but the story is compelling and the time flies by while the audience cheers on the main players and the race to save all of South Korea. It is a topical film, at one point one of the useless politicians chides the medical community for building up the swine flu, and though the film was released in 2013 it is still relevant.

The Verdict

Flu, aka Gamgi is streaming on Amazon Prime. For those who love South Korean cinema this is a 5 out of 5 star film.

The Trailer