Hong Gil-dong is one of those tried-and-true stories that has been inspiring Korean filmmakers for multiple generations. The 2006 version starring Lee Beom-su, The Righteous Thief, updated the beloved Robin Hood tale to contemporary times via a likeminded descendant of its well-known hero. Twenty years before that, a more traditional North Korean variation served up the fable as a martial-arts crowd-pleaser. Another two decades before that, an animated interpretation recast the legend as a Disneyesque fable. What a difference 40 years make!
Per usual, the earlier incarnation of Hong is 100% about robbing the 2%. But unique to the cartoon are obstacles like a trio of rockabilly skeletons, a fanged bat with a cherry red uvula, and a dragon who flies to xylophone music. The connective narrative tends towards the dramatic while the visuals tend towards the comic. These two worlds meet on occasion but overall, writer-director Kim Hong-joon's A Story of Hong Gil-dong is an oddly-drawn curio, not an overlooked classic. This hour-long manhwa (the name for Korean anime) has primarily archival relevancy; less so, artistic.
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