In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Monday 26 September 2011

CHEGYEOGJA [THE CHASER] [2008]

South Korea has a knack for taking the serial killer story and twisting it around on it's head giving it a new life. Na Hong-jin's The Chaser is no different.
It takes enough unpredictable twists and turns as the film rolls along but sadly it's just not the psychologically engaging, until the final hour but by then it's too late to pick up most of the pieces. The two main character performances are beautifully executed and I suspect get better with each viewing but they aren't fleshed out enough in the story itself. The addition of a little girl in the mix is to lighten the mood and played for laughs but is quite frankly annoying.
As realistic as the film tries to be there are too many inane coincidences and silly character actions to ever fully believe it.
In the end it's a so-so film with wonderful acting and camera work, but Korea can do so much better in the thriller department. Oh well.

3 chisels in the head out of 5

1 comment:

Dr Faustus said...

I liked this one. It had the typical Korean style protagonist with bad luck but full of determination.

And I liked the little girl, it gave him a distraction but also reinforced his conviction; erasing the thought that maybe he was doing it for purely selfish reasons.

The coincidences you mentioned did drag it down, a quick rewrite might have eased those but overall I liked it. :)

3½ gardening in the rain out of 5