Sin-gwa ham-kke: Jwi-wa beol [Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds] (2017)

(On TV, August 2020) All right, this is interesting. Flawed, but interesting. Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds begins as a modern-day firefighter dies and finds himself in the afterlife, escorted by three guardians who insist that he’s a paragon of virtue. Tested through a series of trials meant to examine his life, our protagonist openly questions whether he’s the promised paragon, and his guardians have a lot riding on whether he is. The film’s opening is quite good, with a bit of suspense, mystery and humour—plus special effects. A lot of special effects, from the opening to the end of the film. They’re sometimes rough, but the imagination is there. Narratively, The Two Worlds isn’t as successful: the schematic trial structure is broken up by a (less successful) narrative mystery, but there’s a risk that the film is overcomplicating things as it advances. The film’s concept is stronger than the mid-level moment-to-moment scripting: the protagonist is a wet noodle without much personality throughout the film, and there’s a good argument to be made that the lead characters aren’t the dead person going through the afterlife, but his three guardians—they seem better developed, have clear goals, and their interaction gives them more lines than the nonentity lead. The ending is deliberately inconclusive, as tortured family dynamics come to light and the film finds no clear conclusion—but that’s fine, since Along with the Gods is meant to be a two-parter with The Last 49 Days following up The Two Worlds. We’ll see in the next film if it all comes to a satisfying conclusion.