It’s been so long since audiences have watched a realistic fist fight on screen that when you actually see one the effect is … startling.
The new South Korean import “The Chaser,” now available via IFC on Demand, offers two such dust-ups.
But these slugfests aren’t the only reason to check out this morally twisted crime thriller.
“The Chaser” is smart and uncompromising, and it delivers the most conflicted pimp hero since “Hustle & Flow.”
The film stars Kim Yoon-suk as Jung-ho, a former detective who now makes ends meet as a pimp. He’s behind on his payments (life insurance? Netflix??) and some of his best girls have gone missing.
He uses some of his old sleuthing skills to find out why one of his more reliable workers, a single mom named Mi-jin (Seo Young-hee), suddenly won’t return his phone calls.
Jung-ho’s detective work catches the eye of local law enforcement, shown here to be a deadly mix of incompetence and politically correct behavior. The local cops are tougher on folks like Jung-ho than the person who may be responsible for the girls’ disappearance.
You’ll find no more plot descriptions here, since the story unfolds with the kind of unexpected twists audiences won’t see coming for a change.
“The Chaser” lets loose with a jolt every few minutes right up to the end credits, from a gross-out torture sequence to the death of an innocent that leaves us gasping.
We’re also treated to a few socially provocative subplots throughout the story that don’t supersede the narrative.
Now that’s refreshing.
“The Chaser” begins slowly, but once Jung-ho senses the forces at play behind his girls’ disappearance both he and the picture turn electric. He’s hardly a standard hero, and his quiet features belie the ferocity of his actions. The emotional vortex that turns him from an uncaring brute to an unlikely protector of the innocent transform “The Chaser” into much more than a gritty crime caper.
(Photo: Kim Yoon-suk – top left – races after a suspect in the chilling crime flick “The Chaser.”)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
South Korean cinema has been kicking butt lately, and anyone who is sick of shaky-cam quick-cuts, should watch the fight scene from “Old Boy”
I watched this movie on DVD a couple of months ago. As a fan of Korean cinema starting in the late ’90s, when they burst onto the film scene with blockbusters like “Shiri” and “JSA,” I’ve been getting worried about their output over the last few years. Outside of the efforts of big directors like Park Chan-wook (“Oldboy,” “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance”), Kim Ji-woon (“A Bittersweet Life,” “The Good, The Bad, The Weird”) and Bong Joon-ho (“The Host,” “Memories of Murder”), the international community seems to be ignoring them as they’ve gone “too Hollywood.” It is true to a certain extent, as they need to compete with Hollywood productions due to a change in law over screening requirements in their country (where theaters were forced to show a high percentage of local product, thus allowing for more innovative and riskier films), but this doesn’t mean they’ve completely lost their edge. “The Chaser” is one of the films that proves this.
It came out of nowhere, with a relatively minor cast, to become a huge hit in South Korea and the international film festival circuits. It was almost immediately picked up for a remake by Warner Bros., who will likely water it down and give it a completely happy ending. But the original deserves to be seen to remind everyone that Korean cinema is still alive and kicking.
Synner-Man …. glad you caught it and thanks for sharing the bigger picture here.
Yes, I can just imagine several key plot points which will be watered down in the remake … no doubt.
I have just finished viewing this film for the second time. I kept the “exclusive” copy from Blockbuster because it is a phenomenal, standout film. Na Hong Jin delivers in this film and as a debut it will be pretty hard to top. I have to say this is as close to Oldboy in standards as it gets. I mean, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the highest as far as Korean cinema goes, but Oldboy and Chaser are close behind. If you are a fan of Korean film or Asian in general, please do yourself a favor and watch this. It’s as taut and suspenseful as a crime-thriller gets.