Thirty minutes into ¡°Iron Mask,¡± the debut feature from Korean writer-director Kim Sung Hwan, its kendo-crazed antihero, Jae-woo (Joo Jong-hyuk), stares trancelike through shadows at an offscreen character, his eyes unblinking. Under fire from his dojo for excessive violence and foul play, Jae-woo¡¯s terse line of self-defense is chilling: ¡°We¡¯re in competition here.¡±
That sentence gave me pause during the film¡¯s premiere last month at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) in South Korea, where ¡°Iron Mask¡± took one of the two top awards. A vision of life as constant competition propels the most riveting of South Korea¡¯s global cinematic sensations, from the Oscar-winning ¡°Parasite¡± to hit Netflix series ¡°Squid Game¡± and ¡°D.P.¡± Characters on the verge of failure are tempted by Machiavellian schemes to survive in a society that respects only winners and demands of its members brute desperation, fortitude and guile.
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