A HARD DAY (Kim Seong-hun). 111 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (July 24). Rating: NNNN
Watch online: iTunes
A corrupt cop commits a hit-and-run, buries the corpse and is immediately blackmailed by an all-knowing mysterious caller. The Shallow Grave scenario in A Hard Day may be familiar territory, but director Kim Seong-hun keeps you on your toes with top-notch pacing and detours you won’t see coming.
Lee Sun-kyun impressively holds the fort as amoral detective Ko Gun-soo, whom we don’t necessarily sympathize with but root for because he’s so inventive when anxious. The pivotal event happens while he ducks out of his own mother’s funeral to deal with an internal affairs investigation pegging him with bribery. Ko’s solution is to make room in his mother’s coffin for the man he just ran over, who as it turns out is a criminal he ends up having to investigate.
All these events collide, ricochet and twist with hair-raising precision. Director Kim gets maximum tension and laughs out of every ludicrous scenario. Plausibility may go out the window, but you’ll enjoy watching it bounce off the pavement.
