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The Chaser

Korea 2008
Directed by
Hong-jin Na
125 minutes
Rated MA

Reviewed by
David Michael Brown
4 stars

The Chaser

Synopsis: Joong-ho Eom (Yun-seok Kim), an ex-cop, is now pimping call girls on the mean streets of Tokyo. When three of his girls go missing he becomes obsessed with finding the culprit. When he catches him, more through coincidence than hard sleuthing, he is exasperated because the police hinder his efforts to discover the whereabouts of one girl in particular, Mi-jin (Yeong-hie Seo), who he thinks may be still alive. With her young daughter in tow, he takes the law in his own hands.

Remember the name of The Chaser. The team that remade the Hong Kong classic Infernal Affairs into The Departed have their eyes set on this Korean serial killer chiller. After the wonderful performances of Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon in The Departed who knows what Hollywood will make of the two lead roles but they will have their work cut out matching the powerfully emotional turns by Yun-seok Kim & Jung-woo Ha. Yun-seok Kim is an atypical lead but his hang dog features and less-than-athletic build make the numerous, on foot chase scenes even more effective as he pushes his body to the limit. Jung-woo ha in the more subdued role of the killer,Young-min Gee, manages to convey a childlike quality, even when his dark nature is revealed.

The emotional core of the film is provided by Joong-ho Eom, the ex-cop turned pimp who is unwittingly becoming a father figure. Not your typical hero, in the film’s shattering bloody finale he must face guilt-ridden realization of what has happened. One of the film’s clever moves is that it is not a whodunit but a how-will-they-catch-him. The tension is built up trying to gather proof and discover where the killer has hidden his victims, some of who may still be alive.

Falling more in the bloody mainstream vein of Seven than with the gratuitously violent exploitation fodder, the film’s pulse is developed more through characterization than gory set pieces. There are a couple of set pieces that do deliver the red stuff but the emotional effect is delivered by the developing story rather than by the suffering on screen.

Once again, Korean cinema is pushing its way to the fore. Joining films such as The Host and Mother, The Chaser easily holds its head high in such illustrious company.

 

 

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