Amazon Bullseye (아마존 활명수): What's in This Title?

"Amazon Bullseye" (아마존 활명수) is a new K-film that takes aim at your funny bone. What’s in this title? A spot-on pun involving a digestive drink.

🎬 Main trailer (English subs):

🎬 About the film: cultureflipper.com/blog/amazon-bullseye

In this story about a former archer-turned coach training athletes from the Amazon, there is a clever pun in the original Korean title involving a digestive drink called Whal Myung Su, which was replaced by “bullseye” in the English title. Developed by a Joseonean court military officer for people suffering from acute indigestion or gastroenteritis, it is the oldest known Western-style medicine. Written as 活命水 in Sino-Korean characters, it means life-saving water. “Myung-su” can also mean an expert when written as 名手, and when you add the pure Korean word whal (활) for bow, you get — ta-da! — the perfect pun meaning a master archer.

When you have a pun this good, why not take it one step further with a hit commercial? Ryu Seung-ryong, who plays the lead role in the film, appears in an ad for Whal Myung Su, a collaboration between the film creators and the pharmaceutical company Dong Wha. The ad, a scene from the film, was introduced to the public last month during the Chuseok holiday. Ryu’s quite convincing in claiming that the drink “targets” digestive blockages and ailments with a “bang!”