Love the 1980s? Get your retro fix with Netflix’s new K-movie Seoul Vibe

The 1980s was a decade of great cultural upheaval. It gave us suits with padded shoulders, the revival of muscle cars and the rise of hip-hop on our Walkmans. 

If you want to relive those days or get some tips on how to dress retro, Netflix’s new K-movie Seoul Vibe is bringing us back to 1988 with vintage car chases, ostentatious jewellery and the Seoul Summer Olympics.

In the movie — set to release on August 26 — we meet the Sanggye Supreme Team, a rag-tag group of street racers, mechanics and taxi drivers, who become entangled in an investigation into illegal funds during the Olympics. 

We have Dong-wook (Yoo Ah-in) who is the leader of the team and the best driver, Bok-nam (Lee Kyu-hyung), a taxi driver and “human navigator”, and Woo San (Go Kyung-pyo), a DJ.

Yoon-hee (Park Ju-hyun) is Dong-wook’s younger sister and the president of Seoul’s biggest biker club. Joon-ki (Ong Seong-wu) is a mechanic and the maknae (youngest member) of the team.

Lovers of retro culture will be glad to hear that the cast focused heavily on the fashion, cars (and bikes) and music of the era. Kyung-pyo got a full DJ set for himself and Ju-hyun even switched her personal motorcycle to the model her character rode in the movie.

“Fortunately, I had experience being a biker, but when I saw how the professionals did it at the circuit, I realised I was nothing compared to them,” she said at a regional press conference today (Aug 23).

Kyu-hyung, who was born in 1983, said: “The taxi that I drove in the film was an old Hyundai Stellar, and it brought back a lot of memories because it was once my father's car.

“All the memories I had of falling asleep in the back seat made me sentimental.”

“You had to make a charismatic entrance but the doors wouldn't open easily,” Moon So-ri, who plays the villain President Kang, added about the vintage cars. “We messed up a few times while filming because the doors got stuck."

So-ri, 48, remembers the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics vividly, because her younger brother was one of the children featured in the opening ceremony. However, in the movie, the ceremony marks “D-day” (the start of combat operations) for the characters.

Though she may have channelled her wonderful teenage memories into the “rhythm” of Seoul Vibe, she plays a character fuelled by her “incessant greed for money.” 

“If you look at her journey, a character like her cannot be portrayed as beautiful,” she said. “A challenge I had was how to portray her in a charismatic but ugly manner.”

She added: “The director wanted a more polished and elegant President Kang, but I said no. 

“No elegance, she's just a greedy lady — I wanted her to be portrayed in a more crass way.”

"When I saw her on set in her hair and wardrobe, I felt very intimidated by her presence," Ah-in confirmed.

Ju-hyun also changed up her character’s intended style, which was meant to be feminine and “hot”, to a tomboyish “girl crush”.

“I changed the wardrobe,” she said. “I didn't want it to be too sexual and revealing, I wanted Yoon-hee to be a part of the fam, but more of a girl crush.”

Set in Sanggye-dong, a real-life district in Seoul that was demolished to make way for the Olympics, you may expect the movie to be dark and emotional, but it is actually lighthearted and more of a “hip-hop project”.

Stating that the movie was akin to making a mixtape, director Moon Hyun-sung consulted with K-music icons such as DJ Soulscape and rapper Mino, who makes his acting debut in the movie.

He said: “The 1980s, and 1988 in particular, were the most turbulent times in modern Korean history, with a lot of light but a lot of shadow. Against this backdrop, I wanted to take on the concept of hip-hop. I started off from hip-hop music in the 1980s."

If you love the ‘80s, make sure to give Seoul Vibe a spin — premiering Aug 26 exclusively on Netflix.

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drimac@asiaone.com