Notes from the Last Row
Just finished watching Jang Myung-Woo's Notes from The Last Row and I would like to give my two cents here:
The fictitious version of Kim Su-Hun, as picturized by Lee Kang, was inspired from Professor Heo Mun-oh's own rapacity - primarily, for writing a best-selling novel, even if that means crossing all kinds of limits (the reason why we get to see that the pseudo version of Su-Hun tried to kill his son with his trophy). This, blended with Mun-oh's abhorrence for the real Su-Hun, both due to the fact that he's a successful novelist and that he's married with his unrequited childhood crush, prompts Mun-oh to commit unethical activities such as stalking, and even write a book that can both expose Su-Hun's true intentions and help him earn recognition in the literary field. Even if we don't exactly see Su-Hun MURDERING anyone, we indeed see him bringing another woman into the question, dismissing the feelings of his wife Hyeon-jo in turn, who yearns for an effective communication between the two. Additionally, we can also draw a parallel between Hyeon-jo discreetly eavesdropping on the conversation between Lee Kang and Mun-oh & the fictitious version of Ahn Eunjoo being a know-all, yet choosing to act as if everything's normal.
Now's the time to jump to answering this other ambiguous theory. Was Lee Kang actually a gerontophile? If no, then why did the film even choose to show scenes where he engaged in voyeurism, took a liking in viewing Eunjoo's undergarments and birth controls, etc.? Certainly, there's no denial to the fact that the film purposefully included all these scenes to evoke disgust in the audience. But at the same time, we can also conclude that whatever Lee Kang says in his writings about his "kinks" are nothing but reflections of Mun-oh's consuming obsession towards Eun-Joo. I mean, we hear in the initial parts that Lee Kang envied Se-yun, which culminated in this tale of gerontophilia that would later evolve into a murder mystery. Frankly, we see the same happening in Mun-oh's life too. Just like how Lee Kang envies Se-yun in the stories, Mun-oh also envies Su-Hun. When he finally correlates the characters with real-life people from his life and concludes that Se-yun's mother was no one but his childhood crush, he imagines Su-Hun touching her the way it was mentioned in Lee Kang's stories, and then feels disgusted about it. Taking all these into consideration, Lee Kang's "fabricated" voyeurism was, unquestionably, a commentary on Mun-oh's tendency to interfere on Su-Hun and Eunjoo's private matters. The entire story was a critical piece; everything happening in it was a demonstration of Mun-oh's mindset, beliefs and personality.