VETERAN at MoMI this evening

Hwang Jung-min as Detective Seo Do-cheol

Veteran

Directed by RYOO Seung-wan

South Korea, 2015, 123 minutes

When: Sunday, November 8, 2015 at 7:45 PM

Where: Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI)

36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria, Queens, NY
U.S. Festival Premiere

Veteran is the latest offering from the highly talented South Korean director Ryoo Seung-wan (The City of Violence, The Berlin File). It's a policier with plenty of action that also has a lot of deft comic touches.

Hwang Jung-min (New World, Ode to My Father) stars as Seo Do-cheol, a veteran detective who works out of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. He's about as straight an arrow of a law enforcement officer as you'll ever come across. He also moonlights as a consultant for a detective drama on television.

We first meet him as he brings down an auto theft ring, in an action scene somewhat reminiscent of the premiere episode of Sammo Hung's American television series Marshal Law. Do-cheol is quite adept at dealing out a fistful of whoop-ass. But he also has a serious and tender side, especially when it comes to friends, such as Bae, a truck driver who assisted in bringing down the higher ups in the auto theft operation.

Cho Tae-oh (Yoo Ah-in), seated, gets advice from his main advisor

After Bae is victimized by a sub-contractor of a huge corporation, Do-cheol comes up against Cho Tae-oh (Yoo Ah-in, Tough as Iron). Tae-oh is the son of the chairman of the corporation (Song Yung-chang, The Attorney and The Good, the Bad, the Weird). With daddy under investigation, Tae-oh is likely to take over the business. His only problem is that he's a violence-prone psychopathic drug user! But having well-connected friends in politics and the upper echelons of the police force, he seems all but immune to arrest and prosecution.

The confrontation between the irresistible force of detective Seo Do-cheol's righteousness and Cho Tae-oh's immovable object of a protected, crazed corporate maniac makes for great viewing. And the numerous comic touches really make the mix all the more enjoyable.

Hwang Jung-min gives a wonderfully modulated performance. He's tough in the action scenes, funny when called for, and touching when need be. He's supported by a wonderful cast that includes: Oh Dal-su (Oldboy, A Bloody Aria, Hindsight) as Team Leader Oh; Jang Yoon-ju, who makes her film debut as Miss Bong, a high-flying police officer; and Yoo Hae-jin (Tazza: The High Rollers, The Pirates) as Choi Sang-moo, Tae-oh's cousin and chief adviser.

AsianCineFest Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars; very, very, very highly recommended.

This screening of Veteran is part of The 13th Annual New York Korean Film Festival. 

(Note: This is a revised version of my September 14, 2015 review here at AsianCineFest that was also cross-posted at VCinema on September 15th.)

ASSASSINATION reviewed; showing tonight at NY Korean Film Festival

Assassination

Directed by CHOI Dong-hoon

South Korea, 2015, 140 minutes

When: Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 8:55 PM

Where: Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI)

36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria, Queens, NY 

Set primarily in 1933, when Korea was a colony of Japan, Assassination tells the tale of three Koreans tasked by the Korean Provisional Government with a deadly mission. The three are sharpshooter Ahn Okyun (actress Gianna Jun, a.k.a. JUN Ji-hyun, Blood: The Last Vampire, The Thieves), Chu Sang-ok  (also known as "Big Gun"), and Hwang Duk-am (CHOI Deok-moon, The Admiral). Their targets are Japanese general Kawaguchi Mamoru, who led the massacre of over 3,000 Koreans in Manchuria, and Kang In-guk, the leading pro-Japanese lapdog.

Ahn expects the operation to take five minutes and for the three to come back alive. Unfortunately, the plan goes awry because there is a traitor within the ranks of the Korean Provisional government. He has arranged for a team of hit men, "Hawaii Pistol (HA Jung-woo, Kundo: Age of the Rampant) and his partner (played by OH Dal-soo, Oldboy, The Attorney).

Director CHOI Dong-hoon's is perhaps best know in the West for his 2012 hit The Thieves, which was Korea’s biggest box office hit of that year. His other films are The Big Swindle (2004), Tazza: The High Rollers (2006) and Woochi (2009). Gianna Jun and LEE Jung-jae, who stars as resistance fighter Captain Yem in Assassination, both starred in The Thieves.

Assassination is a beautiful period piece with great acting, opulent sets and terrific action sequences, especially a lengthy shoot-out at a wedding. It has exciting plot twists and makes for great entertainment.

AsianCineFest Rating: 4 out of 4 stars; most highly recommended.

This screening of Assassination is part of The 13th Annual New York Korean Film Festival.

South Korean thriller OFFICE reviewed; opens NYKFF tonight

Sales Team 2 intern Mirae (actress KO Ah-sung)

Office / O piseu

Adapted and directed by HONG Won-chan

Screenplay by CHOI Yun-jin

South Korea, 2015, 111 minutes

When: Friday, November 6, 2015 at 6:30 PM

Where: Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI)

36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria, Queens, NY 

New York Premiere

Office politics turns deadly in this terrific thriller from first time director Director Hong Won-chan. This evening at 6:30 PM, the film will be the opening night presentation of The 13th Annual New York Korean Film Festival. Director Hong and star Ko Ah-sung will be present, and the screening will be followed by a reception in the Museum lobby and cafe.

After leaving work one evening, a member of Sales Team 2 at Cheil F&B commits a heinous crime, is captured on CCTV returning to the office, but is not seen leaving it. In the following days other members of the team die and the police are hard pressed to find the culprit.

Mirae (actress KO Ah-sung) is an intern assigned to the team and the only member of it who had a good relationship with the murderer. However, the same office politics that led one person to commit murder also weighs heavily on her as she desperately seeks to obtain a permanent position at the company.

Tension mounts as the killer continues to elude capture and the body count rises higher and higher.

Director HONG was the screenwriter for Confession of Murder (2012), The Yellow Sea (2010), The Scam (2009), and The Chaser (2007—a selection at Cannes). Office marks his most auspicious directorial debut.

Born on August 10, 1992, KO Ah-sung started acting at an early age and played the memorable role of the daughter in BONG Joon-ho’s The Host (2006). Her film credits include The Beauty Inside (2015), Thread of Lies (2014), Snowpiercer (2013, also directed by BONG), Duet (2012), After the Banquet (2009), A Brand New Life (2009), Radio Dayz (2008), and The Happy Life (2007). Her performance in Office is nothing less than spectacular.

The film is part murder mystery, part office drama, part horror story and 100% thrilling. Not to be missed.

AsianCineFest Rating: 4 out of 4 stars; highest recommendation.