He's on Duty

He's on Duty (Korean: 방가? 방가!; RR: Bangga? Bangga!; MR: Pangga? Pangga!) is a black comedy 2010 South Korean film that comically yet incisively depicts racial issues in Korea. Tae-sik finds it difficult to get a job due to his odd appearance and impatient character. After failing repeatedly, he disguises himself as a foreigner and finally lands a job. Tae-sik, however, witnesses the cruel treatment migrant workers face in Korea.[1][2]

He's on Duty
Directed byYook Sang-hyo
Produced byKim Bok-geun
Lee Se-young
Written byYook Sang-hyo
StarringKim In-kwon
Kim Jung-tae
Music byShin Hyung
CinematographyJeon Dae-sung
Edited byPark Gok-ji
Distributed byCinergy
Release date
  • September 30, 2010 (2010-09-30)
Running time
110 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean

The Korean title is a pun on the lead character's name and is an abbreviated form of 반갑습니다 (bangabseumnida) or 반가워요 (bangawoyo) which translates to "Delighted? Delighted!" or "Nice to meet you."

Plot

Bang Tae-sik is perennially unemployed as he drifts from one job to another, from manual labor to serving coffee. His appearance (dark skin and short height), being rather atypical for a Korean is to blame it seems, but best buddy Yong-cheol persuades Tae-sik to make better use of these disadvantages: Desperate and having nothing better to do, he adopts a strange accent and ethnic hat and is reborn as Bang-ga (a twist on his family name) from Bhutan, and immediately lands a job at a chair manufacturing factory.

Despite a shaky beginning ― due to his unredeemable clumsiness, rather than doubts about his alleged Bhutani roots that are all too convincing ― Tae-sik gets along with his co-workers, and even starts romancing the lovely Jang-mi from Vietnam. He is even voted to become president of a migrant workers labor union and competent Korean language instructor, and joins in a harmonious effort to win a local singing competition for foreigners.

Tae-sik begins to truly bond with his co-workers but his loyalties are put to the test when Yong-cheol finds a way to swindle their money.[3]

Cast
  • Kim In-kwon - Bang Tae-sik / Bang-ga
  • Kim Jung-tae - Yong-cheol
  • Shin Hyun-bin - Jang-mi
  • Khan Mohammad Asaduzzman - Ali
  • Nazarudin - Rajah
  • Peter Holman - Charlie
  • Eshonkulov Parviz - Michael
  • Jeon Gook-hwan - Boss Hwang
  • Kim Kang-hee - Miss Hong
  • Kim Bo-min - Hye-young
  • Park Yeong-soo - Park Kwan-sang
  • Jung Tae-won - Dan-poong

Awards and nominations

2010 Korean Film Awards

  • Nomination - Best Supporting Actor: Kim Jung-tae
  • Nomination - Best New Actress: Shin Hyun-bin
  • Nomination - Best Screenplay: Yook Sang-hyo
  • Nomination - Best Music: Shin Hyung

2011 Baeksang Arts Awards

2011 Buil Film Awards

  • Best Screenplay: Yook Sang-hyo
gollark: Now, part of that is probably that you can't really trust whoever is asking to use those resources properly, and that's fair. But there are now things for comparing the effectiveness of different charities and whatnot.
gollark: But if you ask "hey, random person, would you be willing to give up some amount of money/resources/etc to stop people dying of malaria", people will just mostly say no.
gollark: If you *ask* someone "hey, random person, would you like people in Africa to not die of malaria", they will obviously say yes. Abstractly speaking, people don't want people elsewhere to die of malaria.
gollark: Capitalism is why we have a massively effective (okay, mostly, some things are bad and need fixing, like intellectual property) economic engine here which can produce tons of stuff people want. But people *do not care* about diverting that to help faraway people they can't see.
gollark: Helping people elsewhere does mean somewhat fewer resources available here, and broadly speaking people do not actually want to make that tradeoff.

References
  1. "Now showing". The Korea Times. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  2. "He's on Duty (2010)". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2012-10-02.
  3. Lee, Hyo-won (14 October 2010). "Duty falters in satirizing social issues". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
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