RM: Right People, Wrong Place (2024 | South Korea | 80 minutes | Lee Seokjun)
As the year comes to a close, we here at The SunBreak realize that there have been so many films we couldn’t catch as they were released into the wild that still deserve a little love. These posts are our attempt to make up for that and get you squared away for awards season.
Kim Namjoon, better known as RM and member of the musical supergroup BTS, released an album early in 2024 titled Right Place, Wrong Person (RPWP). Within the world of ARMY, BTS’s fanbase, it was beloved just as any release from any of the members always are. However, it didn’t end up being as much of a commercial success as his bandmate Jeon Jungkook’s Golden or Park Jimin’s Muse despite those two albums bookending his own release. That doesn’t diminish the quality of the songs contained within RPWP; as a matter of fact, it is a deep dive into the emotional state of RM as a man and an artist that doesn’t go for the easy listen or immediately relatable lyrics. It just gets better the more you listen to it. That becomes even more evident with a viewing of the accompanying documentary he created as the album was produced.
RM is arguably one of the more reserved and reflective members of BTS and in this film he allows us to see a bit more of who he is when he’s relaxed and surrounded by folks that he trusts; not just trusting with his music but with who he is outside of the megastardom. With someone who is so very much in the public eye, fans and critics alike wonder if we get an authentic view of the person, the skewed version the media wants to you see, a front that the artist puts up or some mix of all the above. Even in an “uncensored” medium like this film, I imagine we’ll never really know who Namjoon is and that’s ok. Holding back a bit of who you are helps to keep some semblance of normalcy and sanity in an insane situation. However, he has given us some insight into his world through this film and just like his album, it’s not meant to be enjoyed only by BTS fans.
RM: Right People, Wrong Place doesn’t currently have a wider/VOD release planned, but this will be updated when that is announced.