Morning folks.
On Wednesday, for the first time in ages I was gifted with a new film to check before its impending release. The film in question was "The Chaser", and having heard mostly good things, including news of a forthcoming Leonardo DiCaprio remake, it is fair to say that I was excited to get to my seat.
Let me fill in those of you who have managed to miss the hype surrounding this film.
"The Chaser" - or "Chugyeogja" in its original Korean - follows a detective-turned-pimp as he searches for the person he only knows as 4885 (from his mobile phone number), whom he believes has been kidnapping his "girls" in order to sell to other outfits.
Initially this all sounds a little high-concept, but once you get a feel for the characters then it becomes easier to stop questioning and start relating. It is then that you can appreciate this film for exactly what it is, an often harrowing, sporadically funny, very simple story that is told very well.
The one downfall of this film can be highlighted by its mildly misleading title. The initially mysterious "4885" is captured within the first half hour of the film and this is where the chasing stops, at least in a purely physical sense. The rest of the film is spread a little thin as we view the story from the three perspectives of our pimp (searching for one of his girls whom he believes to still be alive), the police (who are holding "4885", but are hindered by bureaucracy) and "Mi-Jin Kim" the last girl to be taken.
This split-perspective serves to slow down the middle of the film, and although I appreciate the inclusion of the police procedural aspects of the story, after a while it started to feel like an especially gruesome episode of "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" that just happened to be set in the suburbs of Seoul. The up-shot to these scenes is that they have a much-needed grounding effect, which works to counterbalance the eventually cloying story of our Pimps moralistic awakening.
So in conclusion, this film was well shot, well told and something a little bit different. It is well worth the price of admission and if you can get over the rather slow second act and the clunky transition of our pimp from money-centric bastard to Korea's most feeling man you will be rewarded with a sublime finale that many will not have seen coming.
In keeping with 4885's tool of choice I award this film 3.5 Bloody Chisels out of 5.
(You have been warned).
On Wednesday, for the first time in ages I was gifted with a new film to check before its impending release. The film in question was "The Chaser", and having heard mostly good things, including news of a forthcoming Leonardo DiCaprio remake, it is fair to say that I was excited to get to my seat.
Let me fill in those of you who have managed to miss the hype surrounding this film.
"The Chaser" - or "Chugyeogja" in its original Korean - follows a detective-turned-pimp as he searches for the person he only knows as 4885 (from his mobile phone number), whom he believes has been kidnapping his "girls" in order to sell to other outfits.
Initially this all sounds a little high-concept, but once you get a feel for the characters then it becomes easier to stop questioning and start relating. It is then that you can appreciate this film for exactly what it is, an often harrowing, sporadically funny, very simple story that is told very well.
The one downfall of this film can be highlighted by its mildly misleading title. The initially mysterious "4885" is captured within the first half hour of the film and this is where the chasing stops, at least in a purely physical sense. The rest of the film is spread a little thin as we view the story from the three perspectives of our pimp (searching for one of his girls whom he believes to still be alive), the police (who are holding "4885", but are hindered by bureaucracy) and "Mi-Jin Kim" the last girl to be taken.
This split-perspective serves to slow down the middle of the film, and although I appreciate the inclusion of the police procedural aspects of the story, after a while it started to feel like an especially gruesome episode of "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" that just happened to be set in the suburbs of Seoul. The up-shot to these scenes is that they have a much-needed grounding effect, which works to counterbalance the eventually cloying story of our Pimps moralistic awakening.
So in conclusion, this film was well shot, well told and something a little bit different. It is well worth the price of admission and if you can get over the rather slow second act and the clunky transition of our pimp from money-centric bastard to Korea's most feeling man you will be rewarded with a sublime finale that many will not have seen coming.
In keeping with 4885's tool of choice I award this film 3.5 Bloody Chisels out of 5.
(You have been warned).
Enjoy the original Korean Trailer for the Film (The US voice over in the Western Trailer is rubbish).
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