I'm a huge fan of recent South Korean cinema (THE MAN FROM NOWHERE is one of my favourite films of all time) so needless to say I jumped at the chance to see I SAW THE DEVIL, the film everyone is talking about. Surprise, surprise, it turns out to be every bit the fantastic thriller that everyone says it is, and also one of the most explicit films I've ever seen in its depictions of sex and violence. Definitely not a film to watch with your auntie, then.
Byung-hun Lee (A BITTERSWEET LIFE) is well cast as a government agent who finds himself on the trail of a supremely sadistic serial killer when his pregnant wife is murdered. Said killer, Kyung-chul, is played by OLDBOY's Min-sik Choi as one of the most disturbing killers I've ever witnessed: this guy is the embodiment of evil, an utterly heartless, cold and calculating pervert who thinks nothing of raping and murdering on a whim.
What follows redefines the cat-and-mouse thriller genre, with the good guy on the bad guy's tail and moralities shifting and blurring as both are drawn into a deadly game from which nobody can come unscathed. It goes without saying that the writing and direction are flawless. Graphic scenes of torture and various other unpleasantness litter the film like roadkill until the powerful, inevitable climax, yet somehow the violence never feels gratuitous. While I didn't find this to be quite as good as THE CHASER – that's the film which introduced me to modern Korean cinema, so it has a special place in my heart - it's certainly up there as one of the most unflinching serial killer movies of all time.
Byung-hun Lee (A BITTERSWEET LIFE) is well cast as a government agent who finds himself on the trail of a supremely sadistic serial killer when his pregnant wife is murdered. Said killer, Kyung-chul, is played by OLDBOY's Min-sik Choi as one of the most disturbing killers I've ever witnessed: this guy is the embodiment of evil, an utterly heartless, cold and calculating pervert who thinks nothing of raping and murdering on a whim.
What follows redefines the cat-and-mouse thriller genre, with the good guy on the bad guy's tail and moralities shifting and blurring as both are drawn into a deadly game from which nobody can come unscathed. It goes without saying that the writing and direction are flawless. Graphic scenes of torture and various other unpleasantness litter the film like roadkill until the powerful, inevitable climax, yet somehow the violence never feels gratuitous. While I didn't find this to be quite as good as THE CHASER – that's the film which introduced me to modern Korean cinema, so it has a special place in my heart - it's certainly up there as one of the most unflinching serial killer movies of all time.