Directors in Focus: Yoon Jong-bin | Narco-Saints (2022) Review

Director: Yoon Jong-bin

Notable Cast: Ha Jung-woo, Hwang Jung-min, Park Hae-soo, Jo Woo-jin, Yoo Yeon-seok, Chang Chen, Choo Ja-hyun, Kim Min-gwi, Hyun Bong-sik, Lee Beong-ryeon

Episodes: 6

Coming to the end of my journey with director Yoon Jong-bin, I took a journey with his most recent project, his first foray into television, with the Netflix original limited series, Narco-Saints, based on true events about a man who happens upon a fish-selling scheme that he falls victim to, which ends up being a "laced" situation. Unaware of what was in the fish he had traveled from South Korea to Suriname to gather and sell for profit, Kang In-gu (Ha Jung-woo) finds himself working for the NIS when it is brought to his attention that a powerful drug lord, a local pastor named Jeon (Hwang Jung-min), screwed over his life. Hellbent on getting revenge and a boatload of promised cash in the process, In-gu agrees to help the agent that approaches him, and thus a journey of drugs, bloodshed, and a little worship for good measure ensues.

War of the Worlds - The Final Season (1989-1990)

WAR OF THE WORLDS - THE FINAL SEASON

After surprisingly enjoying the first season more than I thought I would, I was eagerly awaiting to see how the show panned out in it’s second and final season. Well to my surprise the producers decided to COMPLETELY CHANGE THE FUCKING SHOW! Seriously I have never seen a show have more of a tonality shift between seasons than with this second season of War of the Worlds. One can easily tell I was not happy with the changes and the proved this was the FINAL season for a reason.

War of the Worlds - The Complete First Season (1988-1989)

WAR OF THE WORLDS - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON

The 1953 film adaption of H.G. Wells’ classic alien invasion novel “The War of the Worlds” left a deep impression on me when I was a child as I watched it numerous times with my father. I also have vague memories of watching this late 80s sequel television series with him as striking images of grotesque three fingered creatures grasping for victims implanted themselves in my memory. After rewatching the classic original film with my wife I figured it was time to revisit those vague nostalgic memories of the television show by viewing both seasons which I received as a birthday present. Well my memories were not distorted by time as the show was every bit as graphic as I remember and even being a tad better than I was expecting for a late 80s late night Canadian produced television program.