Director: Kim Han-gyul
Starrring: Jo Jung-suk, Lee Ju-myoung, Han Sun-hwa, Shin Seung-ho
Country of Origin: South Korea
Running time: 1hr 51m
An acclaimed pilot undergoes an extreme metamorphosis after being banished from the skies.
Han Jung-woo’s (Jo Jung-suk) star status at Hankuk Air transports him from the airways to the airwaves.
Lauded on television shows for his flawless flying skills and respected by his peers, the celebrated Korean Air Force academy graduate is at the peak of his career.
Yet when a sexist and demeaning comment about air stewardesses is leaked to the media the king of the air is swiftly brought back down to earth.
Han Jung-woo is sacked, divorced by his wife and made persona non-grata in the South Korean airline industry.
Forced to move back into his old family home, he hatches an ill-thought out plan to return to the cockpit after one too many bottles of soju.
Inspired by a bizarre motivational YouTube video involving a fictional Pacific Island, Han Jung-woo becomes Han Jung-mi (Han Sun-hwa) as he desperately steals his sister’s identity and begins dressing up as a woman.
Miraculously, the radical switch helps him get a new job at Han Air.
Yet the strain of posing as a female leads to a series of inevitable and unforeseen hurdles in an unforgivingly competitive business.
Even those who should know better seem blinded to the truth as Han Jung-woo is plastered in make-up, fitted with a wig and totters around in high heels.
It’s a laughably silly, ludicrous premise which stretches the cross-dressing angle – still a taboo topic for some in South Korea – to the absolute limit.
While it could be interpreted as politically incorrect and insensitive to the easily offended, Pilot is an old-fashioned throwback crammed to the brim with a conveyor belt of farcical gags. A remake of the Swedish movie Cockpit (2012), director Kim Han-gyul excels in throwing everything into excessively over the top sequences.
It’s testament to the slapstick skills of Jo Jung-suk that everything cruises preposterously along as he treats us to a tour de force of physical comedy.
Almost nothing is out of bounds from wildly exaggerated facial expressions, dodgy bursts of impromptu singing to frequent voice changes and scenes which depict the challenges of sitting down with a skirt on.
There are quite a few big laughs as the new female pilot bursts into a madcap All-Blacks rugby style Haka in a memorable interview segment and decisively fends off the attention of smarmy colleague (Shin Seung-ho) while dealing with a potential air disaster.
Yoon Seul-gi (Lee Ju-myoung) provides a modicum of comfort to her new female colleague but hides a secret which will irreversibly alter their friendship.
Sandwiched in between the lunacy and hilarity there are much more serious and depressing issues.
The breakdown of the family unit occurs in the background of Han Jung-woo’s fall from grace and drastic transformation to provide financial support for his ex-wife and child.
As his marriage falls apart, he is practically disowned by his mother (Oh Min-ae) – who is dangerously obsessed with a young trot singer – and doesn’t exactly enjoy a great relationship with his sister. Beauty YouTuber Han Jung-mi only agrees to let him take her name so he can help make payments to prevent them being evicted from the family home.
Throw in a sibling Chaebol rivalry between Hankuk Air and Han Air and the topic of female discrimination in the workplace and there is an awful lot going on in what is essentially an absurd comedy.
Real life television hosts Yoo Jae-suk (one of the most famous and recognizable faces in South Korea) and Jo Se-ho even appear as themselves early on as Han Jung-woo makes a gushing appearance on the You Quiz on the Block show.
Quite a lot of importance is placed on the online reaction to every fresh development, as social media comments intermittently flash on and off the screen.
It’s a slightly off-putting trend in almost all of the South Korean films I have watched this year. Surely we can make up our own minds about what unfolds rather than be bombarded with the random thoughts of fictional keyboard warriors?
Regardless, it doesn’t take anything away from an extremely funny escapade which is at its best when flying in comically ridiculous air space.
Stephen Kasiewicz 