Actor Kang Ha-neul once again brings laughter with his sly comedic skills. Alongside Cha Eun-woo's dazzling visuals. It's First Ride, which will evoke nostalgia for childhood friendships not later but now.
The film First Ride (director Nam Dae-jung, provided/distributed by SHOWBOX, produced by BrainShower·TH Story) is a comedy about 24-year friends who are even funnier when they get together — Tae-jeong (Kang Ha-neul), who finishes what he starts; Do-jin (Kim Young-kwang), the bright one; Yeon-min (Cha Eun-woo), the handsome one; Geum-bok (Kang Young-seok), who sleeps with his eyes open; and Ok-sim (Han Sun-hwa) — embarking on their first trip abroad. It reunites director Nam Dae-jung and Kang Ha-neul, who drew 2.16 million moviegoers with the previous film 30 Days.
Tae-jeong, top of his class and good at fighting; Do-jin, former captain of the basketball team who lost his dream to injury; Yeon-min, whose casting of Cha Eun-woo makes you wonder what town has a whole truck of faces like his; and Geum-bok, unpredictable. They are true friends who have spent more than half their lives together like the Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan. Planning for Yeon-min, who is about to emigrate to New Zealand, the friends organize his first trip abroad to Thailand. Without adults, just themselves.
Even though they are soon to be adults in their third year of high school, parents would naturally be uneasy sending minors alone on an overseas trip. For Yeon-min, whom he might not see again, Tae-jeong becomes the only perfect scorer on the college entrance exam after days of struggling on three hours of sleep a night and wins first place nationwide. He persuades the adults who promise a "next time" that "next time" is the phrase Koreans utter most and yet most often fail to keep, winning their permission for the trip.
"Let's meet next time," "Let's have a meal sometime," "Trip? Next time."
While offering the hope of someday, such promises are powerless because no one can guarantee when that someday will come — both those who say it and those who hear it know this. Whether it is Tae-jeong, who feels like he has the world after a perfect college entrance exam score; Do-jin, who still hasn't found a dream after basketball; Yeon-min, who is leaving with his family to emigrate; or Geum-bok, who might be sleeping or awake and bounces like a rubber ball — they are the same. They refuse to postpone their promises to later and instead pull them into the present, staying true to the reality of their friendship.
In First Ride, which foregrounds this wholesome desire, Kang Ha-neul adeptly portrays the edges of youth from late teens to early-to-mid 30s as he has in various works. Especially showing the qualities praised in films such as Midnight Runners and Twenty, he presents them in First Ride without rusting. The sense of déjà vu is inevitable, but it doesn't feel off-putting. Kang Ha-neul's pleasant, upright young-man image allows the audience to accept it without burden.
Kim Young-kwang, who recently stood out as a villain in works such as Trigger and The Villainess, lightens up in First Ride. Just as his transition from model to actor was smooth, his transformation seems increasingly flexible. Kang Young-seok acts like lubricant at every moment the laughter loosens. Cha Eun-woo delivers laughs with his "face genius" visuals, using reversals in expression and narration to occasionally employ comic acting gags that add both fun and emotion. Han Sun-hwa, praised for The Alcoholics, brings romance as a steadfast love who looks only at Tae-jeong, softening the film further.
Laughing at the chemistry of these true friends, you gradually recall the past — the childhood promise of "See you next time!" Perhaps because director Nam Dae-jung, who began with his debut film The Great Wish, captures once more the experience of friendship. It starts with laughter and ends in nostalgia.
Opens on the 29th, running time 116 minutes, rated 12 and up.
[Photo] Provided by SHOWBOX.
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