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Plot

Default dramatizes the behind-the-scenes story of the IMF negotiations that took place during the financial crisis in 1997⁶⁷ through three parallel stories.⁸

Factory owner Gap-su (Huh Joon-ho) wins a contract to supply metal bowls to a big department store, but the store pays him with a promissory note — and so by accepting it, Gap-su unknowingly exposes himself to the risk that his customer won’t be able to pay him. This backfires when the department store goes bankrupt, leaving Gap-su without the funds to pay his suppliers.

Meanwhile, a young financial analyst named Jung-hak (Yoo Ah-in) hears stories on the radio about families in distress — particularly those selling their homes below market price to pay bills resulting from small business bankruptcies. Seeking to profit from this situation, Jung-hak sets up his own investment fund to bet against the Korean economy.

Finally, the governor of Korea’s central bank reads a report from his head of monetary policy, a woman named Si-hyun (Kim Hye-soo). Si-hyun’s report concludes that Korea will run out of foreign reserves to defend the Korean won’s artificially fixed exchange rate against the US dollar within a week. This triggers an emergency meeting of top government officials, who must defend the Korean economy from collapse.⁹

These three stories show the 1997 financial crisis from different perspectives. Si-hyun’s story shows how the government acted during the crisis, Jung-hak’s narrative frames the downturn in economic terms, and Gap-su represents millions of real Korean small business owners who suffered in 1997. At each of these levels, Default embodies the trauma resulting from the crisis: we see characters desperate to sell their homes, drowning their sorrows in soju, and even committing suicide.¹⁰

Cast

Main

• Kim Hye-soo as Han Shi-hyeon¹¹

• Yoo Ah-in as Yun Jeong-hak¹³

• Jo Woo-jin as Vice-Minister of Finance
• Heo Joon-ho as Gab-su

Supporting

• Vincent Cassel as Managing Director of IMF¹⁵¹⁶
• Ryu Deok-hwan
• Park Jin-joo
• Kim Roi-ha
• Um Hyo-sup
• Jeong Gyu-su
• Jang Sung-bum
• Kim Min-sang
• Byun Jin-su
• Yeom Hye-ran
• Han Ji-min¹⁷ in a Cameo

Production

The read-through of the script occurred on December 7, 2017.¹⁸ Principal photography began on December 12, 2017.¹⁹

Release

The film was released in local cinemas on November 28, 2018.²⁰²¹ It was previously screened at the 71st Cannes International Film Festival's Marché du Film in May 2018. It was also screened at the 3rd International Film Festival & Awards Macau at the Special Presentations on December 9, 2018.²²²³ Ahead of its local release, the film was sold to 17 territories including USA, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Macao.²⁴

Reception

Box office

On its opening day in South Korea, Default accumulated 301,324 viewers, taking nearly 40% of the box office and also taking the first place from Bohemian Rhapsody at the box office.²⁵²⁶

On the fifth day of its release, Default surpassed 1 million admissions, and during the first weekend of its release, Default garnered 1,573,441 viewers, securing the first place at the box office for its first weekend.²⁷ Default became the highest November opening in the history of the Korean box office.²⁸

After topping the charts its first two weekends, it has since clocked up 3,755,233 admissions in its home country.²⁹

Critical response

On Korean review aggregator Naver Movie Database, the film holds an approval rating of 6.50 from critic reviews and 8.74 from the audience.³⁰ The Hollywood Reporter's Clarence Tsui called it "An engaging multi-strand story about a nation in turmoil", and wrote, "[...] director Choi Kook-hee has sought to fill that void in a dramatic and furious exposition of causes and effects as seen through the eyes of his three protagonists, who experience the crisis up close in different ways. [...] Choi and his screenwriter Eom Seong-min turn mind-boggling macroeconomic concepts into emotions aimed at the viewers' heart. On the downside, this tends to lead to the film defaulting toward the simplistic and melodramatic."³¹ Pierce Conran from Screen Anarchy suggested that, "The film borrows heavily from recent global financial thrillers, stirs in a predictable dose of melodrama and attempts to tackle women's equality", but concluded, "Technically the film is polished, but as it deliberately seeks to evoke a glum atmosphere it comes off as a little drab."³²

Awards and nominations

External links

• Default at HanCinema
• Default at IMDb
• Default at Naver (in Korean)

References

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2. "김혜수X유아인 온다…'국가부도의 날', 11월28일 개봉". Joy News 24 (in Korean). 10 October 2018. http://joynews.inews24.com/php/news_view.php?g_menu=701100&g_serial=1131293&rrf=nv ↩

3. 국가부도의 날. Korean Film Biz Zone (in Korean). 국가부도의 날 ↩

4. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2018/11/689_258909.html https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2018/11/689_258909.html ↩

5. Park Jin-hai (28 October 2018). "'Default' brings back economic nightmare". The Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2018/10/689_257734.html ↩

6. "Default". Hancinema. https://www.hancinema.net/korean_movie_Sovereign_Default.php ↩

7. "YOO Ah-in and Vincent Cassel Join SOVEREIGN DEFAULT". Korean Film Biz Zone. 10 October 2018. http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&seq=4593&mode=VIEW ↩

8. "Review: "Default" is Korea's Take on "The Big Short"". Cinema Escapist. Retrieved 30 January 2019. https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2018/11/review-sovereign-default-korean-movie/ ↩

9. "영화 "김혜수·유아인 주연, IMF 위기 속 다른 선택을 한 사람들 이야기!" - 한국강사신문". www.lecturernews.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2019-06-14. http://www.lecturernews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=18714 ↩

10. "영화 '국가부도의 날'이 주는 교훈, "위기는 반복된다, 잊지 말자 IMF사태"". CIVIC뉴스 (in Korean). 2019-04-04. Retrieved 2019-06-14. http://www.civicnews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=21651 ↩

11. "YOO Ah-in and Vincent Cassel Join SOVEREIGN DEFAULT". Korean Film Biz Zone. 10 October 2018. http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&seq=4593&mode=VIEW ↩

12. Park Jin-hai (28 October 2018). "'Default' brings back economic nightmare". The Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2018/10/689_257734.html ↩

13. "YOO Ah-in and Vincent Cassel Join SOVEREIGN DEFAULT". Korean Film Biz Zone. 10 October 2018. http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/news.jsp?blbdComCd=601006&seq=4593&mode=VIEW ↩

14. Park Jin-hai (28 October 2018). "'Default' brings back economic nightmare". The Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2018/10/689_257734.html ↩

15. "Vincent Cassel Joins Top Korean Cast in 'Sovereign Default'". Variety. 3 December 2017. https://variety.com/2017/film/asia/vincent-cassel-top-korean-cast-in-sovereign-default-1202629423 ↩

16. "French Actor Vincent Cassel to Appear in Korean Film". The Chosun Ilbo. October 22, 2018. http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2018/10/22/2018102200858.html ↩

17. Kim Soo-jung (June 16, 2018). [단독] 한지민 '국가부도의 날' 특별출연…김혜수와 호흡. TV Report (in Korean). [단독] 한지민 '국가부도의 날' 특별출연…김혜수와 호흡 ↩

18. [단독]'국가부도의 날', 오늘(7일) 대본리딩 시작…라인업 확정. Sports Today (in Korean). 7 December 2017. [단독]'국가부도의 날', 오늘(7일) 대본리딩 시작…라인업 확정 ↩

19. "Guk-ga-bu-do-ui Nal". KOBIZ. Retrieved 6 March 2018. http://m.koreanfilm.or.kr/mobile4/jsp/InProduction/InProductionView.jsp?movieCd=20177552 ↩

20. "Spackman Entertainment Group's Upcoming Film, DEFAULT, Starring Yoo Ah-in Of Spackman Media Group, Set to Release in Korea on 28 November 2018". Viet Nam News. 15 October 2018. https://vietnamnews.vn/media-outreach/467833/spackman-entertainment-groups-upcoming-film-default-starring-yoo-ah-in-of-spackman-media-group-set-to-release-in-korea-on-28-november-2018.html#wxl8IkovGYuwwuwz.97 ↩

21. "[단독] MBC 최승호 사장, '버닝' 출연…'이창동 감독과 인연'". Sports Khan (in Korean). 11 October 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-20. http://sports.khan.co.kr/entertainment/sk_index.html?art_id=201805111015003&sec_id=540401&pt=nv ↩

22. "Default - IFFAM". IFFA Macao. https://www.iffamacao.com/films/special-presentations/default/ ↩

23. "Spackman Entertainment Group's Film, DEFAULT, Grosses Us$22.3 Million in Box Office Revenue, Crossing The 3 Million Ticket Sales Mark". Viet Nam News. 14 December 2018. https://vietnamnews.vn/media-outreach/482060/spackman-entertainment-groups-film-default-grosses-us223-million-in-box-office-revenue-crossing-the-3-million-ticket-sales-mark.html#yXvmz3TefHI6PW6T.97 ↩

24. "'Default' sold to foreign countries before release". Yonhap News Agency. 19 November 2018. https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20181119002800315?section=culture/entertainment ↩

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35. MacDonald, Joan (November 21, 2019). "2019 Blue Dragon Awards Honor Veteran Actors And Newcomers". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 22, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20191122174021/https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanmacdonald/2019/11/21/2019-blue-dragon-awards-honor-veteran-actors-and-newcomers/ ↩