Kathy Chan
Radio Star
South Korea, 2006, 115 min
It took me awhile to get into the Radio Star headspace. I was entertained by the eccentricities of watching an Asian film about the stereotypical, washed-out pop star who is failing miserably at digging his career out of the ground. But then I realized that the film didn’t centralize its theme entirely on that. Choi Gon used to be that teenage heartthrob with millions of girls crying and screaming at his sold out shows. Nearly twenty years later, no one is screaming, and in between his drug and alcohol addiction phases, he has virtually no career. His manager, the ever-charming Park Min Soo attempts — to no avail — to get him gigs. Hitting the lowest wrung of the ladder, Choi gets sent to jail for his restaurant bar fight, and his only chance of redemption is to DJ at a radio station in the small town of Young-wol. Aside from pop stars reviving their careers, Radio Star is somewhat a love story between the often unspoken relationship between musician and manager. Park Min Soo tries endlessly to do everything he can to believe that Choi has a chance at stardom once more. He invests everything he has and even sacrifices his family life to be on the road with Choi. The film is entertaining, indeed. It’s colourful in parts, though the acting is at times over the top with exaggeration. Not a film for everyone, but good for those who believe that everyone has a second chance. |
