Mokpo the Harbor

A Korean comedy about a detective who goes undercover to infiltrate a possible drug ring has won the grand prize at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival 2004 in Hokkaido, Japan, on Sunday.

''Mokpo-nun Hanguda (Harbor Mokpo),' by first-time director Kim Ji-hun(a), received the Grand Prix of the Young Fantastic Competition section of the festival.

The youthful energy of the film best matches the spirit of Yubari, the festival committee announced. The committee also complimented the film for its interesting perspective and fine acting.

''It was enough for me to have had the opportunity to meet with the people of festival, and I am happy to be recognized by the festival,' Kim said. ''I will return to South Korea and make a better movie.'

The film stars Cho Jae-hyun as a detective who works his way up the hierarchy of a gang that is suspected of smuggling drugs in the port city of Mokpo. Cha In-pyo plays the gang leader who takes the detective under his wings.

Had I seen this when it was a new release, I'd have thought it was a small patch on a very tired genre: the Korean jopok/gangster comedy. The plot's nothing new--undercover cop (Jo Jae-hyeon) starts to sympathize with the dapper gangster/drug dealer (Cha In-pyo) he's trying to nab--but the homoerotic elements, an arguable subtext in even the most serious films in this genre, are writ so large and loud here that they threaten to squirt you in the eye (ahem). The filmmakers probably though it would be funny to make explicit what other films only suggest, but the joke wears thin right around the moment that one of the leads feeds the other a live-squid-on-a-stick (a uniquely Korean treat) held at crotch level, and minions outside see the seemingly fellatial event in silhouette against the window blinds. Hmmm. There IS an explosive diarrhea gag that made me laugh, but then I felt really guilty afterwards. Good looking film, but not a keeper.