Most of us know Cha Tae Hyun as the funny lead in My Sassy Girl, but few of us (me included) knew that the man was an established singer.
Cha Tae Hyun plays the main lead in the movie “Highway Star”. His character “Dal Ho” is an aspiring rocker who makes his living by playing backup for a Trot singer in the local nightclub (Trot is very much like Korean Country music, its popularity nowadays has resurged thanks to such groups as Super Junior taking their hand in it). One day, whist his band is playing in club after all the patrons have emptied it, a producer Jang (Lim Chae Moo) decides that Dal Ho has the stuff to be the “next big thing” in Trot. Tricking him into leaving his band and coming to the city, Jang signs him up to a contract to make an album.
After a long winded introduction where new characters and a romance to a certain trot singer in his company (actress Lee So Yeon), we find that Dal Ho is ashamed to be singing trot music, and during his album photo shoot he completely hides his face. During his television debut, a make-up mishap and his ashamedness causes him to appear on stage wearing this funky yellow mask (something that you would see possibly on wrestling).
Unknown to the company, the Masked Singer Dal Ho (or as he is now known as “Bong Feel”) is an overnight sensation and his song is broad casted everywhere around the country, with his single selling out in record stores.
In light of his new success, the fame gets to Dal Ho’s head, and we see him battle with his conscience, his mother, his cast-aside band mates and his old friends for the remainder of the film.
The film starts out slow. He doesn’t even put on the mask till well into the second third of the movie, I thought if we had begun there, there would be a lot more fun for everyone involved. The characters were well acted an engaging, his mum in particular was hilarious.
Cha Tae Hyun has quite a voice, I was shocked. It’s almost perfect for the Trot style of music, and he holds his notes really, really well. Besides the slow paced beginning, the movie evolves into something that is thoroughly enjoyable. I would recommend this to anyone, especially if you’re fond of a good laugh. The ending sequence for this movie is one of my favorites of all time.
It also features an awesome soundtrack, mixing Trot+Rock in one of the tracks in a spectacular fashion.
4/5 stars
Trailer:
