Winning idea cannot be changed. This is the first thought that bounces in the mind of the viewer when scrolling through the opening credits of The Korea Paper House, the Asian remake of The House of Paper that Netflix, thanks to the worldwide success of Squid Gamehas thought of producing to cement the link with Asia and its numerous users. The structural system is more or less the same. What changes – and this is the most interesting thing about the operation – is the frame. The story takes place, in fact, in a hypothetical 2025 during which North Korea and South Korea are finally united after fighting for decades. In this new phase of transition, the economy is committed to laying new foundations which, as often happens, have made the rich even richer and the poor even poorer, transforming the robbery meticulously organized by the Professor into a real social revenge. which seems not too distantly reminiscent of the ferocious social satire that Bong Joon-ho, also a Korean, had built in Parasite.
The result is a House of Paper more violent but essentially faithful to the original developed by Álex Pina, with the variant of the frame that bravely manages to go beyond the names of the gang robbers – identical to the Spanish series – and to the white masks of the Hanoe theater instead of those of Salvador From there. The Mint to hit this time is the one that prints the common currency of the two Koreas, while the strike planned in the smallest detail in the five months preceding date X will force the police of the two countries to cooperate and join forces to stop the bandits who hope to take home the astronomical figure of 4 billion won without killing anyone. Since, beyond the structure, it is necessary to create a certain familiarity with the faces, Netflix and director Kim Hong-sun have seen fit to populate the series of actors already known in the West. From Yoo ji-taefamous for appearing in Old Boy by Park Chan-wook, in the role of Professor, in Park Hae-soo, previously seen in Squid Gamein that of Berlin, up to Kim Yun-jin, the Sun of Lost.
The coup de class, however, is also the psychological and social characterization of the protagonists, much more in line with the Korean spirit to ensure greater adherence to reality. Like the Tokyo character (Jun Jong-seo), narrator of the series as well as in the House of Paper Spanish, described as a girl from North Korea who is a BTS fan and forced to enlist in the war, gaining fighting skills that would be the envy of Jackie Chan. Her move to Seoul and her friendship with a North Korean escort will help her gain her ground as a salsa criminal Dexter – she is determined, in fact, to give a lesson only to the traffickers and exploiters of immigrants – until her accomplice is killed and she, who has nothing more to lose, decides to join the Professor in attempting the coup of the century. It is likely that fans of the House of Paper who want to give the series a chance will not be disappointed, even if it would be advisable to consider this remake as a product in its own right, avoiding making too many comparisons with the original: this is, in fact, the key to fully appreciate the operation.
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Source: Vanity Fair
