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Film: The Man From Nowhere
Year of production: 2010
UK Release date: 11th April 2011
Studio: E1
Certificate: 18
Running time: 119 mins
Director: Lee Jeong-beom
Starring: Kim Sae-ron, Kim Hyo-seo, Won Bin
Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller
Format: DVD
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean
Lee Jeong-beom directs this tale of redemption through violence which went on to became the highest grossing film in Korea last year, winning national and worldwide acclaim across the board. Following in the footsteps of Shiri and A Bittersweet Life, Korea continues to establish itself as a force to be reckoned with on the action cinema front.
The story follows a reclusive pawnbroker Cha Tae-sik (Won Bin), as he tries to forget a past which still haunts him. His only human contact comes in the form of Jung So-mi (Kim Sae-ron), a young girl who steadfastly refuses to give him the peace he desires and slowly starts to draw him out of his self enforced solitude.
When So-mi's mother gets involved in a drug deal that goes bad, she and her daughter are kidnapped and Cha is drawn into a race against time in order to save them. However, the deal that he is assured will see the two released turns out to be a double cross that leaves So-mi's mother dead and Cha caught between the law and gangsters vying for control of Korea.
After realising he has been betrayed and that the life of his only friend is in jeopardy, Cha flees the police and sets out on his own quest to rescue the girl. Unknown to the rest of the world, Cha was once a decorated black ops soldier, until he lost everything after a failed assassination attempt on his life.
Cha must become the man he once was if he is to stand a chance of ever seeing So-mi again. Using the skills and abilities he thought he had left behind forever, he slowly starts to work his way towards the men who took So-mi, hoping that he will he be able to prevent another tragedy before it is too late…
This movie borrows heavily from other sources, most notably from the gangster and the heroic bloodshed genres but even hints of Taken and the Bourne trilogy can be seen. Whilst the story is well written, it is nothing new and, unfortunately, predictable. However, what stops this from becoming simply a mash up of good ideas is the direction, editing and acting. Lee Jeong-beom brings the city to life with his striking imagery and settings, whether it is the poorer parts of town where Cha and So-mi live, or the garish opulence which surrounds the gangsters. His use of the colour blue, which is almost always present when the gangsters are on-screen, is used brilliantly to bathe Cha himself once he has entered their world. All this is accompanied by a mostly orchestral score that is used in all the right places, both for building tension and hauntingly setting the scene for the quieting moments in the movie.
A movie of this kind relies upon a strong actor in the lead role and in this regard Won Bin delivers. As Cha Tae-sik, he gives a performance that deserves the awards and plaudits he has received. A man hiding from the world behind his pawnshop window, the only bright spot in his life is So-mi, a surrogate reminder of the life that was taken from him. His seemingly gruff tolerance of her is offset by the fact he is the only parental figure in her life. He takes a subtle joy in that fact, whether making dinner for her or offering her a place to sleep when her mother is indulging in her drug habit. Though his anguish is evident when he fears he may never see his friend again, his transformation into the man he once was takes a lot of the emotion out of his performance, as what is left behind is a cold blooded killer. He dispassionately takes down anyone in his way, and the fact that he remains calm and never raises his voice during the scenes of extreme violence make them all the more affecting - and Cha all the more terrifying to behold.
Young actress Kim Sae-ron is brilliant in the role of So-mi. Her earlier interactions with Cha are filled with her talking incessantly about things that can only seem important when you're young yet also getting into trouble, as she tries to make the best of what life has thrown her. However, behind this tough façade, we can see a child in need of a friend and, more importantly, someone to look up to. With her mother addicted to drugs, she finds solace and refuge within the pawnshop. An absolutely heartbreaking scene where she shows a maturity and understanding of selfworth far beyond her years becomes the main driving force behind Cha's mission to save her and mark her as a talent to watch in future years.
As the gang leaders responsible for kidnapping So-mi and her mother, Kim Hee-won and Kim Sung-oh both give solid performances; even if Song-oh sometimes crosses the line and hams it up too much. They are men who deal in human lives as a commodity and never truly understand why Cha comes after them. Both have a false bravado that the violence Cha inflicts on their underlings slowly erodes. This leaves Ramrowan as the main antagonist of the piece. A henchman with a penchant for bladed weapons and the only person believable as a viable threat to Cha. His respect and happiness at finding a worthy adversary are evident and lead to two of the film’s best fight sequences.
As mentioned earlier, the editing is a crucial part of this movie and it is during the fight scenes that this is best shown. They are quick, brutal and bloody, yet always easy to follow, even with quick cutting and extreme close ups. This is especially true when point of view shots are used to brilliant affect as Cha and Ramrowan finally face each other in a climactic showdown. Won Bin excels in these action scenes. Moving with a speed and grace that conveys that he is a man trained in the art of killing as he makes short work of these apparently hard men who rely on their numbers and brute strength to deal with their opponents.
The only major problem with this movie is the length, coming in at just under two hours and aided by good pacing, it isn't so long that boredom will set in. However, with a slightly convoluted plot and too many incidental characters, it could easily have been shortened. The most obvious sections to take out would have been those involving Kim Tae-hun as detective Kim Chi-gon. He is the man in charge of jailing the gang members and subsequently trying to find Cha as he leaves a trail of bodies in his wake. Whilst he is good in the role, and brings some added black comedy to the film, he has too little to do. He spends much of the movie surveying the carnage Cha creates and all of the information he uncovers is nothing Cha doesn't figure out on his own. Even his discoveries about Cha's secret past are irrelevant as they are later revealed during flashbacks to much greater effect.
Whilst the influences of American blockbusters can be seen throughout, this proves Korean talent can match and, in a lot of ways, better anything Hollywood can produce. A familiar story of friendship, revenge and redemption which is often violent and bloody, it stands above similar titles in the genre. Brilliantly choreographed fight sequences and strong performances from the two leads make this much more than just another action film. DM
A box office smash in Korea, where it became the highest grossing movie of 2010 and swept the board at the Korea Film Awards taking honours for Best Actor, Best New Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Music, Best Lighting, Best Visual Effects and Best Editing, The Man From Nowhere is, without doubt, the hottest Korean movie to come along in recent years and puts Korean cinema firmly back on the world cinema map.
Scarred by traumatic events resulting from his past, former special agent Tae-shik (Won Bin) lives in solitude running a pawnshop in a rundown neighbourhood. His only contact with the world is through his customers and his next-door neighbours, a young girl named So-mi (Kim Sae-ron) and her mother, an exotic club dancer and drug addict.
Neglected by her mother and shunned by the kids at school, So-mi gradually forms a bond of friendship with the loner Tae-shik. But one day, So-mi and her mother disappear. When it becomes apparent that mobsters connected to So-mi’s mother’s drug dealing have kidnapped them, Tae-shik is forced to leave his private sanctuary and to go out into the world in search of his one and only friend.
In a bid to ensure So-mi’s safety, Tae-shik agrees to perform a one-off job for the gangsters holding the girl. The job turns out to be a set-up that makes him the target of both a rival gang and of an intense police manhunt. On the run from both sides of the law, and risking him life every step of the way, Tae-shik moves ever closer to discovering So-mi’s whereabouts, but in doing so, he also risks revealing the hidden secrets of his past…
Starring Korean heartthrob Won Bin (Brotherhood; Mother) and newcomer Kim Sae-ron (A Brand New Life), The Man From Nowhere is a thriller that begins with a bang and hurtles to a killer climax that will leave action fans baying for more.
Film: The Man From Nowhere
Release date: 11th April 2011
Certificate: 18
Running time: 119 mins
Director: Lee Jeong-beom
Starring: Kim Sae-ron, Kim Hyo-seo, Won Bin
Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller
Studio: E1
Format: DVD
Country: South Korea
Film: Mother
Release date: 20th September 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 129 mins
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Starring: Kim Hey-ja, Won Bin, Ku Jin, Yoon Jae-moon, Jun Mi-sun
Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery/Thriller
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: South Korea
Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho is no stranger to the time honoured and complex themes of murder and family dysfunction, as attested in his previous work: the brutal police procedural Memories Of Murder (2003) and – perhaps better known – the monster-movie adventure The Host (2006). His newest work, Mother – South Korea’s official submission for the Foreign Language Oscar at the 82nd Academy Awards – sets out to combine these two thematic strands.
The story focuses on the eponymous Mother (played by Kim Hye-ja), a humble herb seller and unlicensed acupuncturist who is very protective over her simple-minded adult son Yoon Do-joon (Bin Won) who regularly finds himself in trouble when following the lead of his reckless, troublemaking friend Jin-tae (Goo Jin).
When Yoon is the victim of a minor hit and run incident with a passing Mercedes, Jin-tae decides to follow the car to exact revenge, leading them to an exclusive golf club; the lackadaisical and forgetful Yoon content to collect lost golf balls in the shallows of a lake as they search the grounds. When the driver – a man of certain importance plus his entourage – are found, a scuffle occurs on the green.
Frustrated over the whole saga, and his Mother bailing him out of trouble with the police, Yoon Do-joon arranges to meet with Jin-tae at a bar for drinks. Jin-tae doesn’t show and Yoon proceeds to get heavily inebriated.
On his drunken walk home, he tries to strike up a conversation with a young girl walking alone towards an abandoned house but has no success. The girl is found dead the next day; half hanging off the roof of the abandoned building. A golf ball with Yoon’s name self scribed on it found at the crime scene, combined with Yoon’s hazy recollection of what happened that evening, places him under arrest as the murderer. Convinced of his innocence, Yoon’s mother goes on a mission to find the real killer…
Assuming the role of detective, Kim Hye-ja’s Mother character makes for an endearing and unique perspective on what could’ve quite easily been a rather flat and pedestrian slice of murder/mystery escapism. However, in director Bong Joon-ho’s hands, Mother eschews many of the drab clichés and narrative traits that usually sentences most work from an otherwise overcrowded genre to the realms of mediocrity, and manages to create something that’s engrossing (for the most part), touching and laced with typical Korean-style dark humour.
To start, Kim Hye-ja’s performance as the film’s titular hero is simply a pleasure to behold. Her quietly expressive nature allows her to walk a fine and difficult line between being a strong and dignified individual who is also a flawed and vulnerable creature. It is a performance that is so integral to the execution of the overall work that for it to be anything less than good would greatly diminish the film’s impact. Fortunately, this is not the case. Supporting performances are also fine. Bin Won’s Yoon Do-joon is able to play simple without resorting to merely playing dumb, a performance that keeps his character’s motivations unpredictable and fresh; Goo Jin’s shadier Jin-tae is also given plenty to do.
While the mystery itself is not particularly spectacular, that’s hardly the film’s concern. Mother is a film about the bond between a mother and son, made strong by a fatherless and borderline poverty stricken family situation; a bond that’s pushed to the outer limits. As the mother’s investigation develops – refreshingly playing down on the usual modus operandi of simply moving from one red herring to another – she begins to discover the lengths she’ll go to in order to clear her son’s name lending to some very touching moments, especially when their troubled past begins to re-enter Yoon’s otherwise unreliable memory. Interestingly, Yoon seems to get on fine without his mother, which, if anything, reflects on her disposition, and suggests that maybe she is the one who needs him.
Bong Joon-ho cuts back on the fun and dynamism of his previous effort The Host to create something which is sombre and mature, but it’s not without a sense of humour - the film’s opening crane shot sees the mother trudging through a field in the countryside towards camera before doing a little dance as the opening credits gently fade onto screen. A concept that re-emerges in the film’s final moments, but this time underpinned with newfound resonance and meaning.
Park Eun-kyo and Park Wun-kyo’s screenplay (co-written with Bong Joon-ho) unfortunately, doesn’t deeply explore the film’s complex and dark central relationship, choosing to make light of the unusually close, almost incestuous bond instead. Both characters share the same bed for instance, prompting raised eyebrows from many interstitial characters. Another moment sees the mother bringing a bowl of medicine for her son to consume as he urinates against the wall of a building while waiting for the bus. The mother offers said medicine after she takes a prolonged look at Yoon’s crotch as he relieves himself, with Yoon continuing as he drinks.
The film’s direction and camerawork is certainly indebted, if only slightly, to past suspense vendors such as Alfred Hitchcock, although, having said that, Mother never generates heaps of tension; an incident that sees the mother silently creeping past a sleeping suspect is about as close as the film gets to anything suspenseful. However, this playing with audience expectation is perhaps Mother’s strongest asset. Bong Joon-ho throws plenty of curveballs, creating an air of uncertainty, which is paramount for the murder/mystery genre; you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen next. Yoon’s arrest turns into a strangely funny moment when the police car is caught in a traffic accident a quarter of a mile down the road. Incidentally, a darker moment sees the mother paying Jin-tae to beat up high-schoolers who may know something about her son’s supposed murder victim. On the flipside, this uncertainty also means that the film feels like its going off course sometimes, but manages to regroup before the end credits.
Despite interest wavering slightly during the second act, Mother is a fine meld of contemporary Korean drama and classic mystery movie and wins, mainly because of Kim Hye-ja’s wonderfully balanced central performance, but also because of its emotional simplicity, leading to a beautifully bittersweet denouncement. Those concerned that Bong Joon-ho was crossing over to pursue box office domination as hinted in The Host can rest assured, Mother is a quietly clever and entertaining work - and comes recommended. MP
Film: Mother
Release date: 20th August 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 129 mins
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Starring: Kim Hey-ja, Won Bin, Ku Jin, Yoon Jae-moon, Jun Mi-sun
Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery/Thriller
Studio: Optimum
Format: Cinema
Country: South Korea
Having enjoyed box office success with the throwaway if fun monster flick The Host, director Bong Joon-ho returns to tackling the sort of heavy subject matter he excelled on with the likes of Memories Of Murder early in his career.
Yoon Do-joon is an impressionable, mentally-impaired twenty-something, led astray by his friend Jin-tae (which sees him rolling around, fighting in the sand pit of a local golf course), and suffocated and frustrated by his overprotective mother, who wants to feed him at the dinner table and sleeps next to him half-naked at night
After a night out where he creates a scene after Jim-tae doesn’t turn up, an inebriated Yoon Do-joon calls out and follows a school girl to a derelict building. Yoon is apparently scared off by a large rock that is thrown from the shadows, but the next day the girl is found bludgeoned to death, and he is arrested by the police and quickly manipulated to sign a confession.
His mother cannot believe her son is capable of such a heinous crime, and believing the police are taking the easy route and fitting him up, she sets out to find the real killer…
The out of context, quirky tone which permeates throughout is set straight away, as we follow the ‘mother’ of the piece serenely walking through a field’s long grass, before she begins an initially amusing yet soon uneasy slow, rhythmic dance in time with the title music. The next scene sees the mother (played by Kim Hye-ja) cutting herbs, the sound of which is crisp and intense, as the camera cuts between her fingers getting ever closer to the blade and her son outside with his friend by whom she’s distracted, then WHAM!, a car ploughs into her son and she heads out in hysterics. These two key scenes are indicative of the director’s joy in leading the viewer in one direction only to throw a curveball, and to quickly jolt the viewer as long periods of calm and sobriety suddenly turn extreme. You never know quite what to expect next and the director succeeds in creating a feeling of uncertainty, so important to a mystery, and more necessary here when needing to distract from several flimsy plot twists and developments.
The director, as we know from success stories like The Host, has a penchant for humour, and this combined with some wonderfully inventive cinematography and unnecessary surprise additions provides occasional treats - for example, when the boy urinates against the wall outside, the camera pans out to show his mother slowly approaching before closer inspection of her offspring’s uncivilized activity. She then begins to feed him as the camera now hoisted above shows his urine trickling behind. Suddenly the bus we were unaware he was waiting for turns up and he runs on.
Given the film’s sinister subject matter, and the overall sombre mood (darkly lit, with heavy storms for the most part), these moments of humour make more of an impression, but are also cheap tricks for a director seemingly unwilling to truly confront or examine the underlying darkness – suggesting an almost incestuous relationship between the pair who sleep together, later becomes a throwaway line for outsiders, although this would have been very important in explaining the mother’s behaviour. We are shown Yoon as odd at best because he’s played too comically, with never a missed opportunity to laugh at his expense (when his friend kicks a rear view mirror off a Mercedes Benz his efforts at emulating said activity only sees him land on his rear). His time in incarceration (where inmates revel in his reaction to being called a “retard”), away from the mother he was apparently so reliant upon, isn’t shown to be difficult for him, and he’s never in any serious anguish, occasionally rubbing his “temples of doom” when he wants to remember events that enter intermittently, and with many inaccuracies.
Given the role isn’t fully fleshed out, and there’s little drama (even his arrest becomes a jokey aside, with a car accident seeing a dazed police officer cuffing and reading him his rights, whilst a large gathering of civilians gawp through the police car’s window – later a police officer kicks an apple from his mouth), you have little understanding or sympathy for the son’s predicament. Your investment in this key character diminished further because of such a powerhouse performance from Kim Hye-ja, stealing every scene the pair share.
As with other key South Korean successes, such as Thirst and Ms. Vengeance, the film is carried by an outstanding female lead performance. The mother’s facial expressions say everything we need to know at times, and she stirs the audience with the role demanding she run the whole gamut of emotions, gaining the strength and courage to investigate given the police’s lazy ineptitude, yet clearly desperate and tormented by her need to protect her son. Her adaptability in the role is indicative of the film’s approach to storytelling, and even if we aren’t emotionally tied to developments, and there’s a criminal lack of tension (even during a scene where she has to creep past a sleeping suspect) as we reach the final scenes, both her performance and the director’s invention are to be marvelled at.
Cleverly crafted, with an old-timey feel (the Hitchcock-style score certainly lends weight to that feeling) and an outstanding lead performance (which has earned an extra star for this review), Mother is another classy South Korean offering, but the director’s unwillingness to explore the characters’ psychosis and some convenient plot developments prevent it being considered a classic. DH
