The Chaser

The Chaser (Chugyeogja) (2008)

Runtime: 120 minutes (at least that's the version I saw)

Directed by: Hong-jin Na

Starring: Yun-seok Kim, Jung-woo Ha, Yeong-hie Seo, Yoo-Jeong Kim, In-gi Jeong

From: Several companies, including Bidangil Pictures

Finally I've returned to watching recently made Korean films; I want to watch more this year than I did last year, which won't be a difficult task as I only saw a few. Nevermind how I watched this movie but I did, and the Letterboxd review is below. I'll be back tomorrow night.

Basically, I decided to watch this movie as I stumbled upon it and I realized I hadn't watched a Korean film from its current “New Wave” period in way too many months so I killed two birds with one stone here.

While I understand that other films of the Korean New Wave are even more brutal and raw than this (at least I am prepared now) this is still a pretty dark watch with some really rough moments. It sounds like a simple tale where a less than ethical detective turned pimp is on the lookout for the whereabouts of several callgirls who work for him but have vanished. It isn't long before he thinks he figures it out, but boy are there many twists and turns along the way, along with a rather incompetent and corrupt Seoul police force.

The movie is kind of ridiculous, to say the least. I won't spoil why that's the case. I was able to look past that (besides, I unfortunately don't have a hard time believing that some police forces are collective buffoons or are more concerned with public perception than doing their job correctly) and enjoy the ride. Well, “enjoy” isn't the most accurate description. “Endure” is better, although I don't mean it in a negative connotation. It's an always interesting story and there are some very tense scenes.

“Gripping” is a term I've heard to describe this and I say it's accurate. I certainly was never bored and I was captivated by both the anti-hero (Yun-seok Kim) and the villain (Jung-woo Ha). The antagonist was quite the awful person, cunning at times and yet rather psychotic often. Needless to say there are some very bloody and violent moments, and also some dark humor so it isn't always so grim.

This reminds me why I need to see more films from the country and I pledge to see more in 2015 than I did in 2014.