The President's Barber

May 5, 2004

1h 56m

★ 7.1

A time when a bad haircut can get you killed.

Overview

A well-meaning but politically naive barber gets pulled into the inner circle of the South Korean dictator Park Chung-Hee, with rather baleful consequences for his hapless family. This sharp political satire covers roughly twenty years in South Korean political history, from the viewpoint of the barber's son.

Genres

History

Drama

Comedy

Production Companies

Barunson E&A

Chungeorahm Film

Cineclick Asia

The President's Barber Trailers

Cast

Seong Han-mo

Song Kang-ho

Seong Nak-an

Lee Jae-eung

Kim Min-ja

Moon So-ri

Young Seong Nak-an

Roh Hyung-wuk

Jin-ki

Ryu Seung-su

President

Jo Young-jin

Jang Heok-su

Son Byung-ho

Park Jong-man

Park Yong-su

Mr. Choi

Yoon Ju-sang

Mr. Wang

Jeong Gyu-su

Mr. Ahn

Oh Dal-su

Chief Police at Police Substation

Ju Jin-mo

There is HWAPYONG Restaurant with full of hopes of the family of three generations. Grandfather, the first-generation owner, and the first son, the second-generation owner, who lives as a fugitive after being branded as a communist and his wife and Cheol-soo’s mom who has to work hard by juggling work and family without complaint. The second son, Cheol-soo’s uncle, who sometimes acts like a child with an excuse of being the second son but loves Cheol-soo more than anyone and seriously cares about the restaurant. To the third generation, young Cheol-soo, family is the most precious. By the time when ‘Seoul Spring’ longing for democratization came to nothing due to ‘Retreat from Seoul Station’ in 1980, there were a series of peaceful protests in Gwangju, Jeolla Province. In warm May, a large dark cloud is looming over HWAPYONG Restaurant, the home and everything of this ordinary family of Cheol-soo, in the middle of Gwangju.

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