CHASER (E1, 2008) D: Hong-jin Na, w/ Yun-seok Kim, Jung-woo Ha. Rating: NNNN DVD package: n/a Rating: NNNN
This is the grimmest thriller I’ve seen since Seven. It doesn’t have that film’s spiritual subtext or big-budget production design, but it does capture the sense of urban hell.
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Joong-ho Eom, an ex-cop turned low-rent pimp, thinks someone is kidnapping his girls and selling them. All he needs is one of the girls to get to her current trick’s house and text him the address. What he doesn’t know is that the girls are being slaughtered, not kidnapped.
Plot turns ensue, some involving the restrictions on Seoul cops. Through it all, Joong-ho keeps hunting the house, killer and girl, growing ever more desperate and violent.
Yun-seok Kim delivers good guilt and determination as Joong-ho. We long for him to finally give Jung-woo Ha’s dead-eyed, creepy killer what he deserves, but nothing in this movie goes as planned.
First-time director Hong-jin Na makes good use of the Seoul streets, keeps the pace fast and propels it with a sparse, effective score.
EXTRAS Widescreen. Korean audio. English, Spanish subtitles.
