''Honest Candidate'' () is a 2020 South Korean

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by Jang Yu-jeong, starring

Ra Mi-ran Ra Mi-ran (; born March 6, 1975) is a South Korean actress and television personality. She is best known for her roles in the television series ''Reply 1988'' (2015–2016), '' Avengers Social Club'' (2017), and '' The Good Bad Mother'' (2023) ...

Kim Mu-yeol Kim Mu-yeol (; born May 22, 1982) is a South Korean actor. Following a successful career in musical theatre, Kim was first cast in minor parts on film and television. After gaining recognition for his performance in ''War of the Arrows'' (2011), ...

Na Moon-hee Na Moon-hee (; Na Kyung-ja, ; November 30, 1941) is a South Korean actress. Since 1960, Na has had a prolific acting career in television and film spanning more than five decades. She established a classic Korean mother persona with her TV dram ...

, Yoon Kyung-ho and Jang Dong-joo. It is the remake of the 2014 Brazilian film ''O Candidato Honesto''. It was released on February 12, 2020. A sequel was confirmed on February 10, 2021.

Plot

A third-term congresswoman who is running for the fourth time is suddenly unable to lie a few days before the elections are about to take place. The problem is that her whole political career is based on lies.

Cast

Honest Candidate - Ra Mi-ran and Kim Mu-yeol

as Joo Sang-sook *

as Park Hee-cheol *

as Kim Ok-hee *

Yoon Kyung-ho Yoon Kyung-ho (, born 5 July 1980) is a South Korean theatre, film and television actor. He debuted in 2002 in SBS's documentary drama ''Savage Age''. He came into prominence in KBS's 2017 legal drama ''Witch at Court'' and tvN's 2019 TV series ...

as Bong Man-sik * Jang Dong-joo as Bong Eun-ho * Song Young-chang as Lee Woon-hak * Son Jong-hak as Kim Sang-pyo *

Cho Soo-hyang Cho Soo-hyang (; born January 21, 1991) is a South Korean actress. Career Cho Soo-hyang won Actress of the Year Award for her role in the film ''Wild Flowers'' (2015) at the 19th Busan International Film Festival in 2014. She is noted for ...

as Shin Ji-sun * Ahn Se-ho as Lee Jeong-min * Kim Na-yoon as Yoon Mi-kyung * Ko Kyu-pil as Reporter Hwang *

Kim Yong-rim Kim Yong-rim (; born March 3, 1940) is a South Korean actress. Kim made her acting debut in 1961 and has since worked steadily in Korean drama Korean drama (), also known as K-drama or Koreanovela, refers to Korean language, Korean-language ...

as mother-in-law ;Special appearances * Jo Han-chul as Nam Yong-sung *

On Joo-wan On Joo-wan (born Song Jeong-sik on December 11, 1983) is a South Korean actor. He won widespread praise for his leading role in the film ''The Peter Pan Formula'', and also appeared in '' My Mighty Princess'', ''12 Signs of Love ''12 Signs of ...

as Kim Joon-young *

Yoon Se-ah Yoon Se-ah (; born January 2, 1978) is a South Korean actress. Yoon is best known for her roles in '' The City Hall'', ''Wife Returns'', '' A Gentleman's Dignity'', ''Stranger'', ''Sky Castle'' and ''Snowdrop''. Career On August 18, 2012, t ...

as Cha Yoon-kyung *

Oh Man-seok Oh Man-seok (; born January 30, 1975) is a South Korean actor. Best known for playing the titular transgender singer in rock musical ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch'', Oh's acting career spans theater, television and film. After graduating from the ...

as Jang Deok-joon

Production

Director Jang Yu-jeong came across the film ''O Candidato Honesto'' when she was recording a commentary for '' The Bros'' (2017). She said that "she could have made it to fuel anger by shedding light on the realities of local politics and press, but thought it would be more interesting to turn tinto a satire. hewas immediately hooked and made the decision o make the filmin about 10 minutes." Although the original character is a male politician in Roberto Santucci's ''O Candidato Honesto'', director and screenwriter Jang Yu-jeong cast actress

for the role of the protagonist. As she "developed the character, herealized that no other person could handle this role other than Ra. That's how the gender changed." Principal photography began on June 15, 2019. Filming was completed on September 7. The film is based on the 2014 Brazilian film of the same name, The Honest Candidate (Brazilian Portuguese: O Candidato Honesto). Produced based on a screenplay by Paulo Cursino, it was a hit by criticizing the reality of Brazil at the time while using the subject of '

lie A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deceiving or misleading someone. The practice of communicating lies is called lying. A person who communicates a lie may be termed a liar. Lies can be int ...

' comically. The Korean remake of Brazil's Honest Candidate was announced in 2016 at the Globalgate Consortium in which the world's leading film production companies and distributors participated and received high attention.

Release

The distributor

Next Entertainment World Next Entertainment World (, Acronym: NEW) is a South Korean media content production and distribution company. The film investment and distribution business was founded in 2008 by former Showbox president Kim Woo-taek. Seo Dong-wook and Jan ...

considered postponing the release of the film due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

but eventually decided not to, and the film was released on February 12, 2020 as originally planned.

Reception

Box office

Released on a Wednesday, the film topped its first weekend box office and constituted 44% of the total ticket sales.

Awards and nominations

Sequel

A sequel to the film titled as '' Honest Candidate 2'' wrapped up on October 31, 2021. It was released on September 28, 2022.

References

External links

* * * {{Next Entertainment World 2020 films 2020s Korean-language films 2020s political comedy films South Korean political comedy films Next Entertainment World films South Korean remakes of Brazilian films 2020 comedy films Korean-language comedy films