Showing posts with label Oh Dal-su. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oh Dal-su. Show all posts

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead (2018)


Director: Kim Sok-yun
Notable Cast: Kim Myung-min, Oh Dal-su, Kim Ji-won, Kim Bum, Park Geun-hyung, Woo Hyun, Yoon Sang-hoon, Jang Yul, Kim Jung-hwa, Lee Min-ki, Ahn Nae-sang, Nam Seong-jin

There was a large part of me that didn’t even want to see Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead yet. I’ve been curious about the franchise for quite some time, thanks to my love of eclectic and historically set detective series like Sherlock Holmes or Detective Dee, but the first two films in the series have yet to get a US release and my budgets have not yet allowed me to import the first two films. That didn’t seem to stop Asian film distributor Well Go USA from throwing down some cash to get the third film a US release - and a theatrical one at that. In the end though, curiosity always kills the Matt, and I leapt into this film without seeing the first two...and I had a lot of fun. Granted, the film is obviously a film meant to appeal to a more mainstream audience with its bouncing humor and entertaining characters so don’t expect hard hitting thematic material, but for what it is the film is quite humorous and highly entertaining. Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead contains boundless energy and charm to spare. What more could someone want from a film like this?

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Memoir of a Murderer (2017)

Director: Won Shin-yun
Notable Cast: Sol Kyung-gu, Kim Nam-gil, Kim Seol-hyun, Oh Dal-su, Hwang Seok-jeong, Gil Hae-yeon, Kim Han-joon, Shin Ki-joon, Kim Dong-hee, Kim Jung-young

After Well Go USA released the initial trailer for Memoir of a Murderer, I felt a tad underwhelmed. In many ways it looked like a less intense cross breeding of the phenomenally hard hitting I Saw the Devil mixed with the gimmicks of Memento. Yes, both of those films are fantastic, but considering the hype I had been hearing for Memoir, it did seem a tad underwhelming in the grander scheme of things. I guess I just have never learned my lesson. Never, ever underestimate the effective execution of a South Korean thriller. Not only does Memoir of a Murderer live up to the comparisons to both I Saw the Devil and Memento with the style and approach of its plotting, but it soars on its own powered by emotionally intense performances and one of the most engagingly shifty narratives to grace cinemas this year. Memoir of a Murderer is a thriller of the highest caliber ready to leave its viewers breathless and spinning in their own thoughts.