Red Family (2013)

"In the end, all you have is family."

Red Family, a film about a "family" of North Korean assassins living in South Korea feels dated in some ways, but timely in the never-ending question about what makes up a family.

The Assassin Family lived next door to the South Korean Sitcom Family. The Assassins blended in seamlessly in public but in private were stiff and formal, with the "Mom" who was their team leader constantly barking orders and threatening them. The Sitcomers were wasteful, always ended up in comic situations, and were constantly yelling at each other. Yet somehow, this comically imperfect family forever tainted The Assassins, causing them to question themselves and their mission.

The Assassins also had families back home, families who could be jailed or executed if The Assassins failed in their missions. Little by little, The Assassins began to develop into a real family who cared about each other which was a threat to their mission according to their superiors.

Also discussed was the split family of Korea divided into North and South, and the forces that kept the family apart.

The highlight of this film for me were the teenagers, the Assassin daughter and the Sitcom son. They were cute as they began to bond and form a friendship. I also enjoyed Assassin Grandpa and Sitcom Grandma having a few light moments.

The low points were the moms. Sitcom Mom was always screaming and berating her husband for not making enough money. If all South Koreans were this loud and obnoxious, I'd have headed north myself to get away from them. And even though The Assassins could hear much of what was said next door yet Assassin Mom's voice was always set on screech. The people down the block had to have known that they were North Korean assassins.

At the start of the movie, the Red Family seemed mostly one dimensional. Layer by layer, the rigid exteriors were peeled away to show more of what made each Assassin unique and the fears they had for their families back home. It would have been nice if the film had delved into the internal conflicts they might have had over having so much food available and being in a place where people could speak their minds without fear.

The premise was also a little shaky. The Assassin Family had taken out dozens of defectors to the south, and with all the other spy teams at work, it seems someone would have noticed if hundreds of defectors had been murdered over the last few decades.

Overall, I found the movie entertaining, if predictable. The juxtaposition of the two families with conflicting realities, the Assassins' stress of having to be ever vigilant for fear of being caught by the authorities or condemned by those monitoring them, and their evolution into something more than they were trained to be made for a flawed but compelling story.

26 January 2022

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