Dragon

Dragon, a 2011 South Korean thriller film, revolves around Jong-Suk, a promising university student who excels in his studies and is determined to infiltrate the elite world of high finance at Seoul's most influential financial institution, Mirae Asset Securities. Jong-Suk sees this as the ultimate path to success, wealth, and prestige. However, his life takes an unexpected turn when, during the winter on his last day of university exams, Jong-Suk is spurned by his academic rival, Chul, who receives a lucrative job offer at Mirae Asset Securities. Jong-Suk becomes heartbroken and enraged when their mutual friend, Woosool, also fails to commit to him upon news that Woosool would also be joining Mirae Asset Securities; he even sees him as abandoning their friendship. When Jong-Suk believes Woosool tricked him for not giving him proper consideration, and with his entire academic career seemingly falling apart, he turns to dishonest means to achieve his goals. Determined and clever, Jong-Suk deceives his way into Mirae Asset Securities, leading him to be hired by the prestigious financial firm under the pretense that he finished with a higher academic rank than he did. Consumed by greed and pride after initially encountering little resistance to getting hired, Jong-Suk's decision sets the stage for his elaborate and dishonest scheme. To prevent his exposure as a con artist, Jong-Suk conceals his true identity by attempting to blend in seamlessly with his new colleagues while forging fake documents and taking on various roles to project himself effectively. But his lies only intensify and multiply, putting an enormous strain on his mental state and exhausting his energy. Jong-Suk forms bonds with his colleagues, such as Se-Jin, his coworker, and the security head of the organization. In an ideal situation, he would believe in honesty, friendship, and humility that truly represents his beginning intentions to form legitimate friendships at the new work environment; however, Jong-Suk is unable to make it past his rife deception and deceit. It also encourages dishonest coworkers to act in like their self with one another. As Jong-Suk climbs up the corporate ladder, he starts to experience a stark contrast between his fabricated reality and the harsh truth behind the facade. He faces several setbacks and the constant threat of being caught. Jong-Suk's fake world starts to crumble, and he comes face to face with an existential crisis where he must question the cost of achieving success and what it truly means. Jong-Suk struggles to find balance between his ever-changing persona and his deepening bond with his real colleagues, Se-Jin, at Mirae Asset Securities. The increasing pressure brings about questions whether honesty will be worth it in the end. This brings up contrasts that highlights the real Jong-Suk he once was and dreams he worked so hard for eventually have become ruined by his dishonest means of achieving success. The film's high stakes are underscored when one of Jong-Suk's fabricated stories is nearly exposed, and another threat may loom as more high-profile figures aim to uncover the lies. Consequently, with only a few moments left where he might backtrack his dishonest approach and possibly recover from his mistakes, Jong-Suk is driven to hold on tenaciously to the facade, putting all at risk. At its core, Dragon represents a series of themes where the societal concept of an image supersedes real honesty and values of character and integrity. This movie can be categorized under a genre of the psychological thriller that shows the protagonist's mental breakdown in view of all that is going on with his life and his lies. Ultimately, "Dragon" is a haunting and suspenseful film about a thrilling rollercoaster ride that captures Jon-Suk's journey down his way to breaking a bond with his true-life with a dark tragic ending due to concealing one's nature of lie from genuine living with so much effort on establishing such success in pretending and earning such position for better living standards while paying a cruel price because he chooses lies over genuine relations to get desired things.