New World

New World (Sinsegye) (2013)

Runtime: 134 minutes

Directed by: Hoon-Jung Park

Starring: Jung-Jae Lee, Min-Sik Choi, Jeong-Min Hwang, Seong-Woong Park, Ji-Hyo Song

From: Sanai Pictures

I returned to the world of South Korean films, and a good time was had by me. Read about it in my Letterboxd review below:

Yesterday I was thinking of which foreign film to watch and I realized that I've been saying for awhile now I should see more from South Korea and that's a mantra that I have repeated to myself a countless number of times but I've never actually done it. April, I'll try to see a few more from there. Anyhow, I selected this particular motion picture as it was on Instant and both here and elsewhere I saw high praise. Turns out, the praise was warranted.

The plot isn't too complicated on the surface: a cop is undercover in a crime syndicate and has been doing this for years; the leader suddenly dies and there's chaos. The cop wants out but his boss refuses and wants him to influence the election of the new leader, for the benefit of law enforcement. Yes, I have heard it compared to Infernal Affairs, and as I shamefully haven't seen that-yet-I'll take everyone's word for it. From there, there is a lot of intrigue as you don't know who to trust or whom will turn on someone else. It's more crime drama than action, although what action we do see was quality stuff. Yeah there are some rough and gruesome moments, but it's nothing excessively gross like, say, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.

I was always intrigued with this story and all the twists & turns it took. As it's not a Hollywood product that means it doesn't wallow in cliché and you can't always predict what will happen. Of course I won't be mentioning any spoilers. It was nicely directed (by Hoon-Jung Park), nicely scored (by Yeong-Wook Jo) and nicely acted by the cast, some of whom I recognized from other films I have seen. I have to note that as the lead, Jung-Jae Lee did a fantastic job. Also, while there are plenty of scummy characters to be seen-it is a “Shades of Grey” sort of thing-all of them are entertaining to watch and are intriguing... even the over the top A-hole.

Like I said, I need to watch more movies from this country, as I typically really enjoy what I see from there.