Directed by: Kang Hyo-jin (강효진)
Starring: Jinyoung (진영), Park Sung-woong (박성웅), Ra Mi-ran (라미란), Lee Su-min (이수민), Lee Joon-hyuk (이준혁), Kim Kwang-kyu (김광규)
Review: Inside Me (or translated literally to The Dude In Me) is a new comedy drama film that puts an innovative spin on a familiar formula. It’s your tried and true body/spirit swap gimmick a la Freaky Friday (2003). Even Korean films have seen their fair share of body swap films with the likes of The Beauty Inside (2015) and the identity swapping comedy movie Luck-Key (2016). For Inside Me, Pan-su (Park Sung-woong), the powerful boss of an organized crime gang, think something along the lines of a Mafioso or Yakuza type, swaps souls with a wimpy overweight high school boy named Dong-hyun (Jinyoung).
The great thing about the story of Inside Me is that despite its familiar formula, there are so many ways in which the film makes these tried and true conventions of the body swap genre its own. The way in which the relationships between the protagonists of Inside Me develop take surprising twists and turns that will make you want to applaud its writers who brought us other fun original films like Mapado: Island of Fortunes (2005) and The Art of Fighting (2005). Also unlike other body swap films, Inside Me spends most of its time in that fun zone as the film revels in the time spent during its hilariously awkward scenarios rather than in a mad dash to “break the curse” as many of these body/soul swapping films seem to do.
There are aspects of the comedy within Inside Me that will be interesting to see how it will translate to Western audiences since a lot of the humor is based on the use of honorific speech, or lack thereof, as it relates to a younger person addressing a senior or visa versa. For example, when you have a high school student speaking like as a mob boss would to people who are obviously older, it creates an additional element of shock value to the characters within the film and becomes the crux of the comedy at times.
Inside Me has a lot of strengths but none more so than its beyond stellar all around performances. In his first leading role, Jinyoung, from the K-Pop group B1A4, knocks it out of the park as the wimpy fat kid turned mob boss. Particularly in the early stages of his character Dong-hyun’s transformation and while donning a fat suit, Jinyoung delivers comedic gold as if he were a seasoned comedian in his portrayal of Dong-hyun reestablishing his position among the student hierarchy at his school. There are a ton of surprises in store for his character and it was a real treat to watch his character evolve in both appearance and maturity. I eagerly await Jinyoung’s next film role after seeing him in Inside Me.
But what really elevated Jinyoung was his phenomenal supporting cast. Park Sung-woong who plays the organized crime boss Pan-su and whose soul gets swapped for a wimpy high school kid also brings a ton of laughs to the movie especially in its final act. Dong-hyun’s female classmate and ally at school, Hyeon Jung, who is played rather brilliantly by the very cute Lee Su-min, becomes almost the film’s second lead as her part is written with a lot of depth and becomes involved in the story in a way you’re likely to not see coming. And Ra Mi-ran, who plays Hyeon-jung’s single mother, is a powerhouse in her own right with her very commanding screen presence that gives and extra punch or two to her many comedic moments as well.
And finally my personal favorite character of Inside Me though is Pan-su’s top enforcer played by Lee Jun-hyuk, who is the first and only member of the organization to actually learn of the body swap and works to help Pan-su retain his position amidst the power vacuum created by his absence. He gives an action-filled comedic performance that’s absolutely priceless as he watches over his boss’s attempt to carry out business as usual in his newfound adolescent body.
The characters of Inside Me feel almost to have come straight off the page of a comic book or webtoon at times and I think that is in part due to the excellent art teams in charge of both the costuming and the make-up. From the school uniforms to the sleek gangster attire, everything is cut perfectly to fit the personality of the character. And when you have both students and gangsters making up the majority of your roster of characters, there’s a lot of differentiating that needs to be done to make everyone stand out as uniquely as they do in this film.
Technically speaking, Inside Me is solid. The dialogue is crystal clear and sound effects are on point. And although there is a kind of uncanny valley vibe with Jinyoung’s fat suit initially, it almost brings a sort of Jiminy Glick element to the character that I feel actually boosts a lot of the films comedic impact in the first half of the film. So combined with Jinyoung’s gestures along with other elements of the physical comedy, it’s spot on the money. Inside Me also features a considerable amount of action scenes with some entertaining no holds barred fight choreography that goes above and beyond what one would normally expect in a film like this.
Inside Me feels to be in good hands at the helm of director Kang Hyo-jin who gets the balance just right in terms of the dramedy on screen. The way in which the dramatically heavy scenes are able to dance back and forth between delivering both the feels as well as some genuine laughs shows there was delicate care in preserving a consistently entertaining tone and balance presumed to have originated within the script, and having it effectively come through with the actor’s performances.
Overall, Inside Me comes as a huge surprise in just how funny and original it turned out to be. It’s one of those films that include almost every aspect of why we fans of Korean cinema enjoy it so much. So as my first Korean film review of 2019, I’m happy to say we’re off to a great start as this is one I’d surely pick up on blu-ray too when it comes out.
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