[HanCinema's Film Review] "By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture"

Chan-woo (played by Park Hae-soo) is an ambitious middle-aged man who loves making quantum physics metaphors and wants to open up his own nightclub. The first part of his plan is to recruit Eun-yeong (played by Seo Yea-ji) who he knows from his work in the industry to be exceptionally talented at acquiring high profile clients. "By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture" then skips pretty much all the other steps, such as getting cop Gi-heon (played by Kim Sang-ho) as an ally, and cultivating the patronage of Gap-taek (played by Kim Eung-soo) to keep the club running.

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This isn't trivial exposition that's skipped. The plot of "By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture" is nearly impossible to understand without this crucial information, and I was well into the movie's second half before I finally figured out what was going on. Other important characters include Elder Baek (played by Byun Hee-bong) who's even further up on the legitimate crime hierarchy than Gap-taek, the latter of which looks to take the former down a peg. Yoon-sik (played by Lee Chang-hoon-I) is a corrupt prosecutor who works with either or both as necessary.

What does any of this have to do with Chan-woo and Eun-yeong? Well, not a whole lot, at least initially. And so much of the early part of "By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture" is just devoted to them setting up the club the importance of the scenes featuring these other characters isn't terribly obvious. As in, it's not at all clear what they want or why they want it. The rapper Fractal (played by Park Kwang-sun) is easy to understand by comparison. He just wants to get high.

All of these characters end up getting wrapped up in a convoluted politicking scheme between Gap-taek and Elder Baek where both men have a vested interest in disposing of witnesses. And that's...the whole movie pretty much. Our plucky heroes finally manage to outsmart their persecutors, managing not to die. Although they don't have jobs anymore. Which they might not really need, it's kind of unclear.

Really, if I were to pick any one sentence as encapsulating the viewing experience of "By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture" I would pick it's kind of unclear. The twists and turns in the plot are exhausting to keep track of, and so dominate the proceedings the initial characterization of Chan-woo and Eun-yeong barely even matters. Both of them are just coming up with new schemes to avoid being kidnapped by either of the rival gangs.

"By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture" has some of the most baffling editing I've ever seen. Well, from a narrative perspective anyway. Cinematographically speaking the movie looks great, with nice, clean shots in a wide variety of locations. Real nightclubs, dark allies, and even a nice beach all make appearances. Nice location shooting is...admittedly pretty faint praise though. "By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture" is less a bad movie as it is one that just requires an unusually large amount of mental energy to parse.

Review by William Schwartz

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"By Quantum Physics: A Nightlife Venture" is directed by Lee Seong-tae, and features Park Hae-soo, Seo Yea-ji, Kim Sang-ho, Kim Eung-soo, Byun Hee-bong, Kim Young-jae. Release date in Korea: 2019/09/25.

 

DVD (English Subtitled)