Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
KO Kyoung-pyo, LEE Yi-kyung, UM Mun-suk, PARK Se-wan, KWAK Dong-yeon, LEE Soon-won, KIM Min-ho
Intro:
… one of the most colourful, fun times at the cinema you could possibly want.
We cannot remember a film title that has done a disservice to a movie quite as much as 6/45: Lucky Lotto. A great pity, because a title that dry belies one of the most colourful, fun times at the cinema you could possibly want.
Part Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, the rest a comic version of Korean thriller Joint Security Area, this satire shows the meeting between South and North Korean soldiers positioned on either side of the Armistice Line, who come into contact with a 5.7 billion won ($6.7 million AU) lottery ticket. Each side sees an advantage to pocketing the money but must work together and trust each other to get it.
An absolutely absurd scenario, but one with a wonderfully playful sense of humour. The jokes come hard and fast, but to its credit, most of them land. Apart from a few fart and poo jokes (yes, there are sound effects included too), 6/45 sinks its teeth into the rich political satire it sets up and delivers.
The characters are all OTT and bring something unique to proceedings. They even surprise with a few upending stereotypes.
From a technical side, the film uses a playful colour palette, especially when it comes to separating both sides of the border, with North Korea grimier, browner colours while the South is lighter and brighter.
Surprisingly, the North Korean characters are given equal time to shine, and the South Koreans poke fun at themselves as well.
There’s a wonderful joke involving a North Korean agent who has infiltrated the South and due to his accent, must convince the South Korean officials that he’s Dutch. A cringey mistranslation of his basic German vocabulary leads to a spot-on punchline.
The film is littered with wonderfully comedic moments that indulge in the absurdity of the premise. A couple of uses of badly animated barn animals come close to ‘jumping the shark’, but surprisingly hit with a huge chuckle.
The film’s satirical scenario never tires, the jokes never repeated, the characters so likeable and the narrative always a step ahead of the audience. The sight of a helpless South Korean soldier crossing the border and checking for his lotto ticket in a sea of look-alike North Korean propaganda flyers is hilarious to behold.
6/45 is a surprisingly fun time that never lets down in its satirical value and even has a heart-warming message slapped on to dream of a possible future of reunification between the North and South. Maybe don’t premiere this film at the Presidential Palace of Kim Jong Un, but simply enjoy it for what it is.
