(Korea) Yellow Sea (2010)

**KING** · 06-19-2011

Sypnosis:

On the Chinese side of the China-Russia-North Korea border, in the Yanbian, Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Ku-Nam (Ha Jung-woo) toils his days away as a taxi driver. When he’s not working he’s often found in the gambling halls. Ku-Nam is now in serious debt. His wife left to work in South Korea and promised to send money back. He has yet to hear from her and he is tormented by nightmares of her having an extra-marital affair. Making matters worse, Ku-Nam is fired from his job and debt-collectors take most of his severance pay.

Dog seller and underworld crime boss Myung-Ga (Kim Yun-Seok) offers him a deal. If Ku-Nam goes to South Korea and successfully carries out a hit he will get paid ¥57,000 ($10,000 USD). Ku-Nam accepts the deal and leaves for Korea on a rickety fishing boat with $500 dollars for his expenses.

When Ku-Nam arrives in South Korea he carefully scopes out his target for days, while also searching for his wife. When the time arrives for Ku-Nam to take out his target, a string of unexpected events occurs leaving Ku-Nam desperately looking for a way out. Meanwhile, the cops, Korean mafia, and the Chinese mafia all frantically search for Ku-Nam.

This stunning film is made by director/writer Hong-jin Na, who is most known for his previous film "The Chaser". In this film Na successfully builds an intense atmosphere and covers it in blood. Seriously, the last hour is just a massive bloodbath, using axes, knives, saws, bats, bars and even a leg bone as weapons, to murder and dismember. The whole film is dreary with no sight of redemption for any of the characters. The acting is perfectly portayed in this glum Korean thriller. I know I say this for every Korean movie but the story is just so thick, that's what I love about this country. They really know how to make us, the audience feel close to who we see on screen. This gets an 8/10 for me, a very high 8.