Film: The Chaser

Director: Hong-jin Na
Genre: Thriller
Source: South Korea (2008)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Netflix Instant Watch
Grade: A-

In a late attempt to catch up (at least a little) with Filmspotting's Korean Cinema marathon, I decided to make November Korean cinema month. I don't have access to all of the same films they do, but I'll do what I can, and find other examples to make up the difference.

I'm glad I got to start with The Chaser, though. Part serial killer thriller, part search-and-rescue mission, all high stakes suspense, the film was at times hard to watch, but always hard to look away from. Pimp Joong-ho is a former police officer whose cruelty to people is only surpassed by the nonchalance with which he treats them. People are only important in terms of what they mean to him. Disappearing prostitutes? They're screwing him over. Minion doesn't handle a situation right? He's an idiot that deserves to be threatened and slapped around. Someone might be selling his girls out from under him? They're robbing him of his rightful property. He doesn't care much for anyone, and seems just fine with that.

The disappearance of a third girl in a short period of time, however, changes all that. Joong-ho goes to find her, and eventually discovers something much bigger is going on. That something? Young-min Jee, who claims to have murdered 12 people, but won't reveal the details about where he did it. As Joong-ho tries to track down and save Mi-jin (the third girl) while Young-min sits in the police station watching the legal bureaucracy trip all over itself, the pimp has to face (at least a little) the cost of what his way of life means. After all, the disappeared Mi-jin did not live alone, so Joong-ho's emotional isolation might be threatened as his search accelerates.

The film is gripping, sprinkled with gut-wrenching violence (Young-min's hammer is terrifying every time it appears), a little bit of black comedy, and an increasing sense of desperation. But (spoiler alert) it's also a story about redemption and reformation. It's a fitting end to a film filled with Christian imagery (and perhaps there is an obtuse religious reason behind Young-min's crimes), Joong-ho ends the film slumped against the wall of a hospital against a structure that, due to angles and set design, looks suspiciously like a cross. At its heart, this is a film about learning that one's life cannot be only about oneself. Joong-ho's search for Mi-jin may have started with a self-centered interest, but it eventually takes him far past that into recognition that other people's lives have meaning--and meaning to him--far greater than he gave them credit for. Yun-seok Kim (as Joong-ho) is hugely compelling as a slightly doughy and increasingly desperate anti-hero, and he makes a great counterpoint to the endlessly creepy Jung-woo Ha as Young-min. The two are an effective match, and each of their encounters rises in stakes and intensity.

The Korean revenge genre is not for everyone, but The Chaser--if not as flashy or as melodramatic as the better-known Oldboy--is a great example of how the genre can create emotional weight. Really compelling.