Sung Joon’s dark turn as high school delinquent in Pluto
by girlfriday
Sung Joon (Gu Family Book, Shut Up: Flower Boy Band) has played his share of high school delinquents and genius deviants before, so this won’t be a huge stretch into new territory, but I am really interested in his next film Pluto, which looks dark — like Bleak Night/White Christmas dark — about a group of top high school students who turn into monsters to get into the top universities… and end up killing one of their own.
The new movie from indie director Shin Su-won really does seem like Bleak Night and White Christmas’s unholy lovechild. The nation’s smartest students attend a private high school designed to tailor them for entrance into the best universities, and of those students, the top 1% run a secret study group. They’re led by Sung Joon, who’s the smartest of them all. David Lee (Gu Family Book, The Great Seer) plays a more average student at the school — an outsider who wants in on the study group with the best of the best, but gets rejected and bullied by them.
And then one day Sung Joon is found dead at the school, and David becomes the prime suspect in his murder. He’ll dig into Sung Joon’s life to find out the truth, uncover what goes on in this secret study group, and in order to catch the people responsible, he’ll become a monster himself. The movie’s tagline: “Now just nineteen. What happened to these kids?”
The title comes up in the trailer as a running theme about outsiders — Pluto gets rejected as a planet and the students joke that it’s a loser, and David is the only one who speaks up to say that maybe it shouldn’t be judged too quickly. It looks like once we start going back in time to before Sung Joon’s death, we’ll find that the outsider and the bully may have been friends.
Co-starring are Kim Kkot-bi (Ashamed) and Jo Sung-ha (yet another member of the Gu Family Book cast, not to mention he was also in Bleak Night). It looks like a dark thoughtful movie with a bit of flair for suspense, and if it’s anything like the projects it brings to mind, I think we’re in for something good.
Pluto hits theaters July 11.
Via Osen
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Tags: Sung Joon
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1 Mama J
June 25, 2013 at 2:11 PM
Why yes, please, I would like some of that.
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kdramapedia
June 25, 2013 at 4:13 PM
Second that
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2 whimsyful
June 25, 2013 at 2:32 PM
Oh wow, this really does sound a lot like White Christmas.
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Jo
June 25, 2013 at 6:39 PM
It totally has the same vibes as White Christmas! I think I would love it.
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twentyonebuds
June 26, 2013 at 6:40 PM
And the spiraling rectangular staircase + genius Sung Joon!
I hope this one is just as emotionally satisfying too... definitely checking it out.
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3 Hugepuffball
June 25, 2013 at 2:32 PM
Dang, this looks SO good! I really can't wait for it to come out, but by the time it's subbed i'll probably forget it ever existed.
Still, don't ask me why, but for some reason I really love stories about the 'top 1% of students' and that kind of thing.
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4 Manin
June 25, 2013 at 2:49 PM
This looks really really interesting! Haven't gotten around to watch Bleak Night yet, but 'I loved the darkness and intensity in White Christmas. Not to mention the questions it raises about human nature.
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5 ockoala
June 25, 2013 at 2:58 PM
I don't know why but this whole set up, with one dead smart student and all this competition to get into top university, just flashes back to the Sunny Hills Murder. Perhaps its having lived through it in high school, or being rather impressed with then newbie director Justin Lin capturing the AA rich smart kids posse in OC vibe in Better Luck Tomorrow, its one of those real life cases that always seems to have elements that can be mined for cinematic derivations. This can be the same story with a few changes and move the locale to SKorea. Sung Joon is such a talented versatile actor. He should do more movies, the edgier the better. He has the face and physique to not be pigeon-holed as the bland inoffensive pretty boy.
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Pam
June 25, 2013 at 7:17 PM
Hi, Koala! Nice to see you here! I haven't seen many of SJ's work but loved him in SUFBB but Gu didn't do him any favors, in the acting or hair department. He is very talented and needs a versatile project to stretch his acting ability.
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6 pogo
June 25, 2013 at 3:41 PM
I need a good Sung Joon project as a palate cleanser for GFB and its meh/wtf ending, and anything that harks back to White Christmas and Bleak Night can only be a good thing, in my book.
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Pam
June 25, 2013 at 7:14 PM
I'm just going to pretend he was never in Gu. Lol!!!
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Lilian
June 26, 2013 at 9:18 AM
Yeah...I was expecting more for his character but was it ever mentioned how he became one of the masters? It seems a little weak that he became one just because he is a good swordsman, second to Master Dam!
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Chloe
June 27, 2013 at 6:48 AM
it's like the cast of Gu was poached all at one go.
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7 skelly
June 25, 2013 at 4:25 PM
Sigh. Hope somebody subs this.
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8 alua
June 25, 2013 at 4:29 PM
The film is not so new, it's actually from last year. Well, it hasn't been released cinematically in Korea yet but it has been making the rounds at various film festivals. It screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival the other day (which has a Korea focus this year), which was, alas, just a little too far away.
I still need to watch it (and Bleak Night too).
One of my fellow K-film bloggers has it down as one of his favourite films from 2012, so it's bound to be very good.
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alua
June 25, 2013 at 4:30 PM
Need to add that I looooove the poster.
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Cee
June 25, 2013 at 10:04 PM
The poster (and tagline) really gets me!
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Betsy Hp
June 25, 2013 at 6:07 PM
Ooh! Film-festival movies are that much more likely to get subbed and into places like Netflix and such! *is happy*
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alua
June 25, 2013 at 11:23 PM
It even screened in Berlin (one of the major festivals).
It has had, from what I have heard, a very good reception too.
Maybe there'll even be an official DVD release one day?
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9 panshel
June 25, 2013 at 4:37 PM
They’re led by Sung Joon, who’s the smartest of them all.
Isn't he always? ;) This film totally sounds like White Christmas the Movie, right down to the rectangular spiral staircase in the poster... which means, I'm gonna love it.
Also, I am enjoying this sudden influx of news on our models-turned-actors. Any other news for the rest of our White Christmas / School 2013 cast? :D
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Rovi
June 25, 2013 at 11:36 PM
Well, since you asked updates on "School 2013"...okay. XD
(I already posted this in one of the older Open Threads, but I'll oblige since "School 2013" was my most favorite of the year...)
-Choi Chang-yeop (Kim Min-gi) is currently in tvN’s "The Genius: Rules of the Game"
-Kim Jong-hyeon (Kim Jong-hyeon; funny how he’s namesakes with SHINee’s Jjong yet kinda looks like JJ Project’s Jr.) appeared, with Lee Jong-seok in the two-episode QTV’s "REAL MATE in Cairns, Australia" in April. He even stopped a snatching incident.
-Park Se-yeong (Song Ha-gyeong) is the busiest along-side the two boys: Music Bank's MC with Jinwoon, cameo’d in "Flower Boy Next Door" as Dok-mi 2.0, and has a KBS daily "A Tale of Two Sisters"
-Gwak Jeong-wook (Oh Jeong-ho; the most seasoned one of all, being a child actor in the late 90's-early-2000's), was in "KBS Drama Special" (tho I don’t know when), the episode titled "Adolescent Medley"
-Lee Yi-gyeong (Lee Yi-gyeong) was in “Nine”, but unfortunately was apprehended due to a DUI.
-(Lee) Ji Hoon (Lee Ji-hoon; looks like a down-sized mellow version of EXO-K’s D.O.) is currently in "You’re the Best, Lee Soon-shin" as Jo Jeong-seok’s hapless yet adorably funny assistant Jo In-seong. And he was also in the 5th film of the “Mafia” series, before "School 2013" even happened.
-Kim Min-gyeong (Kim Min-gyeong) is (reportedly) currently in “Mandate of Heaven” as Yeon-geum.
-Jeon Su-jin (Gye Na-ri) and Kim Chang-hwan (Han Yeong-woo) were in the recent KBS Drama Special "My Friend is Still Alive" (aired last 19th), starring Kikwang as a high-schooler with leukemia, Kim Chang-hwan as the friend, and Jeon Su-jin as the girl whom Kiki wants to confess to.
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Cee
June 26, 2013 at 12:34 AM
Wait, did Lee Yigyeong get arrested? :(
LOL Jihoon "looks like a down-sized mellow version of EXO-K’s D.O". He kinda does. I watch him in YTBLSS and he's absolutely adorable there
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teamAce
June 26, 2013 at 9:40 AM
arghhh, reading this make me miss School members sooo much...
and Go Namsoon also as Park SooHa in I Hear Your Voice... =]
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pogo
June 26, 2013 at 10:29 AM
any word on Ryu Hyoyoung? (aka Kang-joo?)
I know Kim Woo-bin will be in Heirs come October and is apparently doing the Friend sequel, but any news of cast members is always welcome!
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panshel
June 29, 2013 at 5:07 PM
Thanks for the School 2013 updates, Rovi! I like how the School kids used their real names (with exception of the main cast), so I don't need to memorize additional names.
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10 ananke
June 25, 2013 at 4:43 PM
Am I the only one who wishes a few of these films would be dramas instead? That's one reason why I loved "White Christmas" -it really felt more cinematic.
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11 Miky
June 25, 2013 at 4:53 PM
I heard from some people that saw it that it was quite good
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12 hanie
June 25, 2013 at 5:11 PM
sung joon?
bleak night/white christmas messed up child?
YES please!!! I only hope that I won't have to wait years for the english sub~
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13 Jushi
June 25, 2013 at 5:33 PM
David Lee. I'll probably watch this for him. He made an impact for that teensy childhood version of Park Hae Il in War of the Arrows that I appreciate that silent yet brewing emotion inside of him.
Not as interested in the plot because I've watched Bleak Night. Bleak Night is a great film though (with just some minor things I nitpicked).
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14 POPSMISSION
June 25, 2013 at 6:29 PM
Sounds pretty interesting but also possibly very depressing.... but count me in!
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15 raindrops1
June 25, 2013 at 6:31 PM
This sounds like a good and intense movie. A movie that suits him very much.
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16 Madi
June 25, 2013 at 7:33 PM
I'm confused... I thought this came out last year. Didn't it?
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alua
June 25, 2013 at 11:28 PM
It premiered at a Korean film festival (Busan) last year and has been showing at various festivals internationally since (Hong Kong, Berlin, Edinburgh, etc.), but it is due for a cinematic release in Korea only on July 11.
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17 fanboi
June 25, 2013 at 9:26 PM
The other guy looks like Tae Sung (Big Bang)
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Cocoboo
June 27, 2013 at 11:49 AM
Dae Sung, you mean.
I noticed he looked a bit similar too.
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18 cheekbones
June 25, 2013 at 9:37 PM
This movie is being screened for free in the Korean Film Festival here this week. But damn it, I can't go. Dammit.
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19 Cee
June 25, 2013 at 10:02 PM
Wasn't this the thing that White Christmas wanted to prove? That every human being has an evil side within them and even the nicest human can turn into monsters if he/she is pushed to be so? And Sungjoon was in White Christmas too LMAO will he ever graduate high school?
ANYWAY THIS IS INTERESTING! I always love angsty high school movies/dramas. Because high school is not always about those cheesy first loves
I love Sung Joon too; he definitely can act and his presence (not a Joowon-kind-of-presence but still really strong) is amazing. He has a bright future
I also really like the title and the philosophy behind it. So David Lee is Pluto, Sung Joon is then Sun, and the rest of the study group kids are the planets revolving around SJ?
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20 redfox
June 25, 2013 at 11:14 PM
even in the midst of forests and snails I get a glimpse of Sung Joon. I am saved. I will not turn into a wild beast.
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21 MeeisLee
June 25, 2013 at 11:40 PM
Gahhh, this is my cup of tea! Considering how much I LOVED White Christmas (I had a field day in the comments section here on DB, this movie already seems like a hit :). I must find some way to watch it :(.
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22 Newbie
June 25, 2013 at 11:44 PM
I've already seen this movie at the Berlinale this year. It is excellent and very disturbing. (I only watched the first two episodes of White Christmas and wasn't reminded of this movie for what it's worth.)
The director creates a chilling atmosphere and the viewer gains an insight into Korea's schooling system. She only had time for a very short Q&A and told us, that she used to be a teacher and used a lot of her experiences for the movie. I'd have loved to ask her which ones.
*Spoiler* For example, the school director's reaction to the killing of his best student towards the police was something along the lines of 'As long as your investigation doesn't disturb our final exams.'
Somehow the viewer stays cold und unsympathetic to these young people who's only thought is about the ranking in class. We watch with horror how the story unfolds and yet can't really feel for them.
A chilling experience and even months later I find myself thinking about the movie again and again.
Recommended.
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23 selina
June 26, 2013 at 7:14 AM
I loved, loved, loooooved 'Bleak Night' (it hurt so good). I hope this is similar but different in all the right ways.
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24 ak
June 26, 2013 at 7:31 AM
Am I the only one who noticed the other guy is the one who acted as SeoHwa's brother in GFB? :O
& Sung Joon. was. awesome. as Gon. :)
A high school delinquent role seems to suit him well too.
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25 dramarathon
June 26, 2013 at 8:34 AM
Wow the White Christmas geometrical staircases are back! haha!
And I love the background song to the trailer, perfect mix of creepy + dark + emo + ambient.
Sung Joon should just stick to these kind of cold genius roles.
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26 Celia
June 26, 2013 at 8:49 AM
Oh, this movie will be screened in my city as part of Korean Movie Festival and i'm planning to watch it!
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27 teamAce
June 26, 2013 at 9:47 AM
watching this teaser make me miss my cold Choi ChiHoon... and other members as well....
after watching White Christmas, it just soo hard to choose any drama that better than it... lol
Korean definitely need to make more drama with this genre instead of typical melo, romance drama...
anyway, soo excited for this movie...
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28 TS
June 26, 2013 at 2:30 PM
What the heck, I'll watch it and like it.
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29 weekwand
June 26, 2013 at 4:27 PM
I'm lucky to watch this yesterday after hours waiting and still in the waiting list.
This really is Sung Joon darker role movie/drama I ever watch.
Like Newbie(#22) said it tells how schooling system in South Korea, where they have this Special Class which offering special lesson only to those of "lucky" student with their secret society that will do "anything" to get to the top.
#SPOILER# it said that the school building is built on ex korean-CIA version.
If compared to White Christmas, I'd say it's darker because I feel disturbed.
IMHO, I'd never let my children enrolled to this school because the environment (kids, teachers, lessons) could get them crazy. What's the use of good schoold if you become "unbalanced" person.
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30 FishFillets
June 27, 2013 at 6:51 AM
All i can think about now is GON!!! DADDY DAM!!! GON!!!DADDY DAM!!! xD
looks pretty interesting, to-be-watched list +1 :D
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31 Rene
June 27, 2013 at 9:30 AM
Reading the outline reminds me of very similar Hollywood film where the premise was the same. The murder was planned so that the kids in that friends group would be marked leniently in their SATs' coz of their 'grief' and get through top schools eventually.
One new kid got caught in the murder unwittingly and needs to solve it, before he too either ends up dead or stands accused for the same.. im forgetting the name but this was quite a nice movie. but like sung joon.. hope this a nice movie as well :)
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32 Rene
June 27, 2013 at 9:31 AM
Reading the outline reminds me of very similar Hollywood film where the premise was the same. The murder was planned so that the kids in that friends group would be marked leniently in their SATs' coz of their 'grief' and get through top schools eventually.
One new kid got caught in the murder unwittingly and needs to solve it, before he too either ends up dead or stands accused for the same.. im forgetting the name but this was quite a nice movie. for sung joon.. hope this a nice movie as well :)
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33 Farhana
June 27, 2013 at 10:38 AM
This looks nuts. I loved White Christmas because it had an awesome cast (and I squeal every time they're coupled up again for anything) but the plot was crazy and I almost peed my pants during the finale.
That being said, I love Sung Joon so I'll probably watch this too haha
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34 Cocoboo
June 27, 2013 at 11:57 AM
I JUST finished White Christmas yesterday.
It wasn't my usual cup of tea, but I was definitely sucked into the drama. Dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking. I had lingering thoughts after each EP. I really liked it overall.
And I liked Sung Joon in it a lot~ ^^
Pluto sounds good too. I'd like to see it. Haven't watched Bleak Night yet tho.
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35 eternalfive
June 28, 2013 at 5:42 AM
Sung Joon as the genius student again. XD This looks good (I love these kinds of premises :P), I really hope it gets subbed.
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36 cayl
September 25, 2013 at 8:47 AM
cant wait i want spoiler hahaha
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37 stringofpurls
January 11, 2014 at 6:52 AM
I bought the DVD and just watched this last night. Wow. I haven't seen Bleak Night yet, but I see the comparison to White Christmas. The characters were mostly unlikable, but compelling and I couldn't take my eyes away from it. Well worth the watch.
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