The Man Standing Next (Korean: 남산의 부장들; lit. 'Chiefs of Namsan') is a 2020 South Korean historical political thriller film directed by Woo Min-ho. Based on a book of the same title, the film stars Lee Byung-hun, Lee Sung-min, Kwak Do-won, and Lee Hee-joon as the high-ranking officials of the Korean government and the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) during the presidency of Park Chung Hee 40 days before his assassination in 1979.
The film premiered in South Korea on 22 January 2020, where it topped the box office until 4 February 2020. It was released in the United States on 24 January 2020. It was selected as the South Korean entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
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Synopsis
In the 1970s, South Korea is under the absolute control of President Park who controls the KCIA, the organization with an edge over any branch of government. The director of the KCIA, Kim Gyu-pyeong, is nearly the second-in-command, but faces rivalry from the president's security chief. Amid a reign of fear, a former KCIA director, Park Yong-gak, who knows all about the government's obscure and illegal operations, goes into exile, and testifies in front of the U.S. Congress, opening the floodgates to the investigation of Koreagate. As tension escalates, stifling political maneuvers by those desiring power collide explosively.
Plot
Park Yong-gak, a former KCIA director, testifies against South Korean President Park in a United States Senate Committee investigation. With the threat of Park publishing his manuscript on the regime, President Park of South Korea sends Kim Gyu-pyeong, the current KCIA Director to stop Park Yong-gak from publishing his manuscript. Kim goes to Washington, where the two meet and Kim demands the manuscript from Park. Park Yong-gak hands it over but implies the president's corruption by suggesting that President Park is being financially backed by offshore Swiss accounts.
With his mission accomplished, Kim returns to South Korea and consequently, faces conflict with Kwak Sang-cheol, President Park's bodyguard. A wiretapping plot on the president is discovered and Kim becomes suspicious of a professor who is present at the search in the President's office. Through interrogation, Kim finds out that a KCIA agent has acted without orders from him. He sends an agent, Ham Dae-yong, to Paris to further investigate the situation.
In Paris, through means of wiretapping, Ham discovers that the KCIA agent was not acting on his own, but rather under orders from Kwak. Through this, it is discovered that Kwak has ordered the assassination of ex-Director Park, who will be visiting Paris. It is during this time that President Park gives Director Kim the freedom to do what he wishes with the ex-Director. Kim, not to be outdone by Kwak, resolves to have Park Yong-gak killed.
In Paris, two different teams both to assassinate ex-director Park prepare to kill him. Kwak's team seeks to lure Park into his room, while Kim's team seeks to kidnap him and then kill him. With the help of Park Yong-gak's aide, Deborah Shim, who is used as bait, Director Kim's team can nab ex-Director Park first, driving him out of Paris. However, Park can momentarily escape to a nearby town but is tracked down by Ham, who promptly kills him. He disposed of Park Yong-gak's body to ground up in a hammer mill which is a grinder at a chicken farm and turned into chicken feed.
Park is displeased with Kim's handling, however, noting that Kim didn't solve the problem of apparently stolen finances that were procured by Park Yong-gak. Kim's friendship with President Park deteriorates further as a result and Park begins distrusting Kim. Kim, who is deeply torn by the killing, as the ex-Director was his friend, begins to break down under stress.
Cast
Lee Byung-hun as Kim Gyu-pyeong: the fictional lead character based on Kim Jae-gyu, who served as the 8th KCIA director from 1976 to 1979
Lee Sung-min as President Park: based on Park Chung Hee, the 3rd President of South Korea and father to Park Geun-hye, the 11th President of South Korea
Kwak Do-won as Park Yong-gak: the character based on Kim Hyong-uk, who served as the 4th KCIA director from 1963 to 1969
Lee Hee-joon as Kwak Sang-cheon: the character based on Cha Ji-cheol, who served as the 3rd director of the Presidential Security Service
Kim So-jin as Deborah Shim, a lobbyist
Seo Hyun-woo as Chun Doo-hyuk: the character based on Chun Doo-hwan, the 10th KCIA director and the chief of the Defence Security Command, who later became the 5th President of South Korea
Park Ji-il as Kim Gye-hoon: the character based on Kim Gye-won, the 5th KCIA director, who served as the 18th Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Army
Kim Min-sang as Jang Seung-ho: the character based on Jeong Seung-hwa, who served as the 22nd Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Army
Park Seong-geun as Kang Chang-soo: the character based on Park Heung-ju, a KCIA officer and Army colonel
Jung Mi-hyung as Female singer: the character based on Sim Soo-bong.
Jo Hye-joo a Female university student: the character based on Shin Jae-soon (Korean: 신재순).
Ji Hyun-jun as Ham Dae-yong, a KCIA agent
Reception
The film was released in Japan on 22 January 2021, under the name KCIA.
The Man Standing Next holds an 80% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews, with an average of 7.5/10.
Favorable response
Cary Darling of The Houston Chronicle rated it 4/5, writing: "Stylistically, there are echoes of such notable '70s American political thrillers as Parallax View and The Conversation. Even if you're not sure what's going on at any given moment, it is never less than compelling. As if it weren't known already, "The Man Standing Next" is proof that there's much more to South Korean cinema than Parasite."
Critical response
In a review for The Guardian, Leslie Felperin noted the film "feels aimed more at a domestic audience" and rated it 3/5. She wrote: "There's a long wait until something really meaty happens, in every sense, but the climactic killing in a restaurant, complete with spluttering arteries and swooping camerawork, is just about worth the wait."
In a review for The Hollywood Reporter, John DeFore wrote: "Though touching on a le Carre-like web of loyalties, ambition and hidden agendas, the film (an adaptation of Kim Choong-Seek's book KCIA Chiefs) is generally less engrossing than that might suggest, only coming to life in the sweaty hours leading up to that murder."