Byun Sung-hyun’s Good News is a South Korean action comedy about the chaos that comes after a group of young radicals hijacks a Japanese flight at a Korean airport, demanding that their flight be rerouted to Pyongyang. What follows is a comedy of errors as the flight crew, American military, Japanese government, and Korean intelligence agencies struggle to keep the situation under control. 

The first hour of this film was genuinely one of my favourite theatre experiences of the festival. The visuals were eye-catching, the dialogue was witty and hilarious, and while the sound mixing was slightly off, I felt that I was in for a great viewing experience. However, by the second hour of the film, I was wondering if the film really needed nearly 140 minutes to tell its story. 

Performance-wise, this film is firing on all cylinders, and the comedic timing was electric between all of the ensemble cast. The political satire was effective and hilarious, even to someone who isn’t incredibly familiar with the political context from which it arose. Everyone on all sides was made fun of: bumbling military and government officials, radicals who don’t entirely know what they’re doing, and actors whose egos are much bigger than their talents. There were some recurring bits that had me chuckling every time they were mentioned, and the film overall had a grounded sense of comedy. 

I do feel that the film’s comedy was hurt by its bloat. There was a lot that needed to be left on the cutting room floor—not to say that the extra content was bad, just that there was too much of it. The phrase “kill your darlings” is really salient for cases like this: sometimes you need to cut your third-best joke in order to keep your second and first. A lot of scenes could have benefited from some general tightening or from shaving off an extra few seconds per shot. 

The style is fresh and vibrant. Sung-hyun has a great eye for dynamic shots and scene transitions. However, I feel like the film was also a bit overproduced. The dynamic shots would have had more of an effect if they were used a bit more sparingly because they aren’t as impactful as they should have been, given their technical skill. Also, having a bit of a “quieter” style would help to foreground the incredible acting and scriptwork. 

Overall, this is a fun movie despite its slightly unjustified runtime. I hope Netflix does give this film a theatrical release, both in South Korea and globally, because it should be seen on the big screen (and I don’t think a lot of people will finish the film if they have the option to turn it off). I also look forward to seeing what Sung-hyun does in the future. I think that once he starts working with his editor and hones his style, he will create some really fun films.