I was with my sisters and two
other friends and each of us had its own understanding. Well done director! Office is intriguing and frankly
disturbing. I loved Misaeng and his atmosphere and if I have to judge, his counterpart
in the thriller world isn’t bad at all.
INTRIGUE
Office starts off with an awful
crime: a man killed his wife, child and mother one night. He then came back to
the office, like nothing happened. According to his colleagues, Kim Byung-gook
(Bae Seong-woo) the killer was someone
ordinary. 
An ordinary guy, doing an ordinary office job, except this guy with no particular problems
eliminated his whole family with a hammer. Kim Byung-gook is part of a
sale teams. He doesn’t exactly stand out for among his colleagues. He’s a
common worker. Just common. The day he committed his dreadful act was day like
any the other. That’s how his team seems to show it to the world. But we
quickly find out the day Kim Byung-gook killed his family is the same day he
got fire. His dismissal might have been the trigger to his folly. The manager
tries to keep the information quiet but some people in the team are aware of
it, among them: the intern Lee Mi-rye (Go
Ah-seong). The latter will rapidly reveal herself as a central piece in the
case. She seems to know more than she pretends. But how to worm information out
of an intern who only dreams of being engaged? Considering she’s not far from
there, there’s no way she’ll betray her team.
Lee Mi-rye started five
months ago and if things go her way, she might soon becomr a permanent employee
of the company. For a countryside girl, who struggles to live in Seoul, to find
a job in that kind of company would be the firmament. But things haven’t been and aren’t still easy for her. Office, beside Kim Byung-gook’s case, depicts
the hardships and battles of Lee Mi-rye. It shows the pressure, the rigor, the
difficulties of interns in general and employees of big companies in Korea.
It’s a social and terrifying portray of a society that has been built on
exigence and hard work. Reaching the top asks sacrifices and a total devotion
of you. You don’t count your time, you do extra hours. And you’re not always
rewarded for your dedication. Korean society is strongly based on hierarchy.
Your manager, your boss, your sunbae
will be right in most of the cases, regardless of conditions, age or gender.
You own him/her respect whatever the situation.
An intern, who’s not completely someone (you fully become someone once appointed) is at the bottom of the ladder. You make copies, serve coffee, prepare meeting rooms, make more copies and serve more coffee until you come with a brilliant idea, until you start to be useful to the team and therefore to the company. And somehow it makes sense, because at some point the intern has to stand out for what he/she really is, grab the opportunity to make the difference. The problem with Lee Mi-rye is she was way too busy trying to make good impressions on everyone, she forgot to take occasions to show off her competences and values. She never shined, never blew anyone away. Blame it on her submissive attitude and her desperate envy to be hired. You usually stay an intern for three months but she’s been there for five months already. It says everything about her. The only one who ever took some time for her is Kim Byung-gook. As strange as it may seem, he immediately felt her despair and got connected to her in a way. Lee Mi-rye is the only one affected by the situation. None of the six members of the team shows the same emotion
Jong-hoon (Park Seaon-woong), the cop in charge of
the case, has a lot to do. He starts the investigation thinking all he need to
do is put his fingers on Kim Byung-gook and stop the rumors to spread. Of
course something so horrible and mediatised cannot happen without rumors. But
you can count on the company’s big bosses to take any action to stop them. That
go from muzzled the media to put pressures on the police. Quickly Jong-hoon
will understand there’s more than Kim Byung-gook. Indeed Lee Mi-rye might know
much more than what she says and she could hide important elements. He has
convictions but no concrete evidence. Not really a start to convince anyone,
not to mention the constant pressure from his captain! What do to? He can push
things and fight till some point but in the end it’s all about choices. Keep
investigating, fight and seek for the truth or simply give up? What will be his
choices and the consequences?
THE TEAM
Kim Sang-gyoo (Kim Ee-seong), the manager, is someone
only interested by results (and they better be good. But isn’t it the main
concern of every team’s manager in the world?) He wants results no matter what
his team has to go through. Surcharged
by work, stressed, nervous and full of himself, he never goes softly on any of
his team even if he’s concretely conscious he need all their desperate efforts.
Jung Jae-il (Oh Dae-hwan) is the typical brown-nose
He wants to be in his manager’s graces even if sometimes that means go against
his colleagues. But be comprehensive, her has a fiancée at home he need to take
care! Only concerned by his future, he doesn’t really care about anyone else.
Hong Ji-seon (Ryu Hyun-kyung) is a careerist woman.
Talented, hard worker, strongminded, she’s also conscious of the flaws of the system.
But she made her choice long ago: it’s her before the humanism. Nevertheless,
beside Lee Mi-rye, she’s the first one to show a slice of sympathy for Kim
Byung-gook. But even stronger than sympathy, she’s deeply afraid. Afraid of
what might be the consequences of her choices and mostly the team’s choices. If
Kim Byung-gook came back in the building it can only be for one reason: to get
revenge on his co-workers who didn’t consider him, who didn’t fight for him,
who let him down. If he killed his whole family, what could stop him from
sending his team to the other world? I would freaked out as well.
Yeom Ha-yeong (Lee Chae-eun) competent maybe but
mostly cute. She’s not really concerned by Kim Byung-gook’s case and even less
by Lee Mi-rye’s poor condition. On the contrary whenever she can, she abuses of
her sunbae’s status.
Lee Won-seok (Park Jung-min) is just a follower. He
doesn’t take side. He does his job, laugh and joke when he can. Just like Yeom
Ha-yeong, he’s not really touched by the situation. Everything is happening
within his team but it could happening in another team or another company. As
long as he’s not the direct target, he’s fine.
Sin Da-mi (Son Soo-hyun) is the new intern. According
to the whole team, she’s the perfection incarnate. She studied in prestigious
universities, has as many diploma as one can dreams of, has a perfect
background and is beautiful on top of it. Nothing to be compare with Lee
Mi-rye! But where have you seen a team with two interns? Something’s definitely
off.
MY FEELINGS
Office is a
total surprise for me. The movie is a thriller, perfectly controlled. It gives
you chills, make you jump of your seat once or twice, makes ask yourself what
are your limits and mostly questions a system that won’t assuredly change today
or in a near future.
The end is a headache but
that also bring an interesting element to the movie. Give it a try it’s
freaking worth it! Be prepared though it’s going to surprise you in a way or
another!
OR 
