Wild Sing

Story: The band Triangle really takes off in the 2000s. Leader and dancer Hwang Hyun-woo (Gang Dong-won) was previously scouted by producer Park Yong-goo (Shin Ha-kyun) and teamed up with rapper Gu Sang-gu (Um Tae-goo) and singer Byeon Do-mi (Park Ji-hyun). Their first album is a massive success, and the promotional machine is just gearing up for their second. However, the trio has yet to receive their earnings from the first album's sales, and shortly after being confronted about it, their producer flees abroad. At the same time, the band becomes embroiled in a scandal because a song on the new album is a blatant plagiarism. Consequently, the band falls apart, and everyone goes their separate ways.
Twenty years later, Hyun-woo still hasn't given up his dream of returning to the stage. Suddenly, an opportunity arises when old bands are sought after to promote an expo. Hyun-woo also receives an inquiry and must now track down his former bandmates. Sang-gu is now selling insurance and initially has no interest. But since he is in deep debt, he can be persuaded. Do-mi causes Hyun-woo more headaches, though, as she has married a wealthy man and is unlikely to be interested in giving up her current life for a pipe dream.

Review: To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this film, but since it's streaming on Netflix, my guess was that it would be tailored to a broad audience. However, I was very quickly proven wrong, and even after the credits rolled, I still couldn't exactly say what story the film was actually trying to tell. Strictly speaking, it starts off quite clearly. A successful band embodying all the cliches of the 90s and 2000s is confronted with a con artist of a manager and consequently caught up in a scandal. Many years later, they want to return to the stage. The only problem is that from the second half onwards, the whole thing turns more into a road movie, leaving you wondering whether or not the trio will actually make it to their gig. Technically, the film doesn't even want to convey a message; it focuses entirely on the journey, but this strips it of a fair amount of its substance. We'll look at what that means in detail now.

Without a doubt, the highlights of "Wild Sing" are the music videos and the band's performances. While this isn't exactly a comedy I'd truly call a musical film, there are enough songs that will instantly hook fans of (early) K-pop. To drum up some pre-release hype, the music video for "Love is" was already published on YouTube, or you can alternatively just wait for the film's credits to watch the video. Here, you can clearly see the attention to detail, which isn't limited just to the music itself, the candy-colored visuals, and the dance moves, but also encompasses many other little things like the body language of that time. The nostalgia trip should be huge for viewers of the right age and elicit a smile at the very least. It's cheesy but authentic — exactly how the late 90s and 2000s feel today. Thanks to the wardrobe and solid makeup, the actors genuinely appear quite a bit younger. So, believability wasn't put on the back burner.

Especially with Gang Dong-won ("Uprising"), who is already in his mid-forties after all, I had some reservations about whether you could buy him playing a younger guy. You do have to turn a blind eye a little bit, but it helps that he moves briskly during his dance routines and has some impressive breakdancing moves up his sleeve. His character, however, felt the flattest of the bunch to me. Hyun-woo desperately wants to get back on stage and realize his dream, and he is the leader of "Triangle", even though he rarely does a good job managing things. At least the film plays around with that latter fact a bit. Curiously, Um Tae-goo's ("Night in Paradise") role as an at-best mediocre rapper ends up being the strongest. He clearly falls into the role of the wannabe-cool "gangster", yet he is more than just the funny sidekick. The third member of the group is played by Park Ji-hyun ("Gonjiam"), and with her, I was most uncertain about what the director actually had planned for her. Her new life stands in such stark contrast to her old one that you would think the screenwriter would make use of it, but aside from a few half-hearted attempts, there's nothing of the sort.

The funny sidekick role actually falls to Shin Ha-kyun ("Inseparable Bros"), and he ends up stealing the show from everyone else — which is especially surprising since, on paper, he really just represents a cliché. Accordingly, I would have loved to see even more of him in the movie. But let's turn back to the story. After the long introduction, which scores points with its nostalgia trip, things predictably follow the attempt to bring everyone back together despite their new life circumstances. And although the other two members have already settled into their new lives, it doesn't take much persuasion on Hyun-woo's part, as the fire still burns within his bandmates. The second half surprises, as previously mentioned, by suddenly finding ourselves in a road movie. This is also where the film's core humor is rooted, constantly manifesting in the form of unbelievable coincidences. This absurd touch suits "Wild Sing" quite well, but unfortunately, the fact remains that the comedy thus feels split into two halves.

A perhaps even bigger weakness is that you never get the impression the screenwriter or director Son Jae-gon ("Villain and Widow") knew where they wanted to go with their story. Now and then there are moments where you have to nod in appreciation because well-trodden paths are avoided and not everything feels completely predictable, but a solid alternative to the mentioned stereotypes that is actually followed through is simply never provided. As a result, the ending is underwhelming, proving once again that "Wild Sing" unfortunately lacks any real direction. The journey is the destination, it seems, but if that's the case, the focus should have been placed even more heavily on the road movie aspect. As a comedy, the film is thus mediocre, but it is elevated by its themes and music. Especially those familiar with the K-pop of yesteryear will catch some nice references here, almost all of which went right over my head...

Buy this movie:

Follow @AsianMovieWeb