First of all, a couple of notes: The American translation for this title is "Hi, Dharma," but the literal translation is "Hey Dharma, let's play." The term "Dharma" refers to the Buddhist principles of individuality, sort of.
Anyway, about the film...At first, I was expecting a gangster movie filled with predominately slapstick humor. This film is a bit more on the serious side though, but it can still be easily classified as a comedy. Basically, five gangsters running from the law decide to lay low at a Buddhist monastery, mainly because the gangsters figure that they will be able to easily manipulate the monks. However, discontent arises, and the rest of the movie is nothing special.
Conveniently, the number of gangsters equals the number of monks (not including the elder, who serves more as a passive character). Each gang member also has a unique personality, as do the monks, which oddly enough, somewhat parallels the gang members' personalities. The circumstances and sequence of actions just seem too contrived. I think I would have preferred an even more comedic approach to this movie.
There are lots of Korean gangster movies and lots of gangster comedies. Of these gangster movies, only a small handful are really great and worth watching. "Hi, Dharma" is one of those movies that falls on the more disappointing end of the spectrum.
Anyway, about the film...At first, I was expecting a gangster movie filled with predominately slapstick humor. This film is a bit more on the serious side though, but it can still be easily classified as a comedy. Basically, five gangsters running from the law decide to lay low at a Buddhist monastery, mainly because the gangsters figure that they will be able to easily manipulate the monks. However, discontent arises, and the rest of the movie is nothing special.
Conveniently, the number of gangsters equals the number of monks (not including the elder, who serves more as a passive character). Each gang member also has a unique personality, as do the monks, which oddly enough, somewhat parallels the gang members' personalities. The circumstances and sequence of actions just seem too contrived. I think I would have preferred an even more comedic approach to this movie.
There are lots of Korean gangster movies and lots of gangster comedies. Of these gangster movies, only a small handful are really great and worth watching. "Hi, Dharma" is one of those movies that falls on the more disappointing end of the spectrum.