The Chaser (Hong-Jin Na,2008):South Korea

Reviewed by Maurice Cohen. Viewed at the AFI Film Festival, LA

If you are looking for a mixture of Saw and Psycho this maybe could be the movie you are looking for. This was the first movie I saw at the Film Festival in Hollywood. I had high expectations, seeing The Chaser as the fist movie was a good choice. The chaser is an intense movie where Thriller meets action and drama meets crime. This masterpiece is directed by Hong-Jin Na and is produced by production companies as Fine Cut and Silk Road.

In a small dark but busy street in Seoul, South Korea, we get to meet Joong-Ho Eom in his little office. Early in the movie we find out that Joong is an overworked Pimp who tries to hold his girls on a tight leash. This leash is not tight enough when we find out that some of his girls are gone, or have been sold again. This is not something that Joong can accept and he tries to figure out where they went. In this part of the movie it gets clear to the audience that Kim has a few connection with the police. Kim used to be a detective. At the same time Mi-Jin Kim , one of the girls of Joong disappears too. Joongs detective instincts kicks in and he figures out that all the girls who are missing, had the same last costumer, Young. It’s too late for Mi-Jin who is already trapped in Youngs mysterious house on a hill, just like the movie Pshycho. Young locks her up in his bathroom, which looks a lot like the bathroom we know from the first Saw movie. While Joong is chasing Young, the police gets the feeling that their maybe chasing the wrong man, maybe the killer is Joong himself. Can Joong clear his name and show that he’s not the killer? Can Mi-Jin get out the bathroom, and can Joong get to her in time while chasing Young?

What’s most significant in this film besides the acting is the music used. Music is used in films to create a connection between the audience and the scene. The music’s helps you to create an emotion while looking at a tv screen. The music used in the chaser is the right music for the film , no doubt about that. Though it was the right music it was overused. This is made up by the editing in the movie. It goes from a slow pace to a real fast pace later on in the movie, which gives a good rhythm to the movie.

I would highly recommend seeing this movie. It’s worth any minute.
The chaser has a good story, where different genre’s match each other. It’s important that in a thriller where we see a lot of action, there’s not only crime or drama but some good laughs in between, which were definitely present in the Chaser. Besides the use of the music I can only say good things about the Chaser. Enjoy!