The Chaser

(South Korea | 2008 | 124 mins | 35mm)

35mm

San Francisco Premiere

Exec. Producers: Eui-seok Cheong, Sun-yong Kim, Seung-koo Jhung
Producers: Su-jim Kim, In-beom Yun
Writer: Hong-jin Na
Cinematographer: Sung-Jae Lee
Editor: Sun-min Kim
Music: Jun-seok Kim, Yong-rock Choi
Cast: Yoon-suk Kim, Jung-woo Ha, Yeong-hie Seo

South Korean director Na Hong-jin makes his breakthrough debut with this masterfully gritty, brutal thriller about murder, vengeance and one man's tortured quest for justice. The sleeper hit of the year in South Korea, THE CHASER revitalized the struggling film industry there, and is already slated to be remade by Warner Brothers.

The film's anti-hero, a cop-turned-pimp named Kim Jung-ho, becomes enraged when his girls begin mysteriously disappearing. Suspecting that a customer is selling them off to other pimps, Jung-ho sets off to track down a newly missing woman, Mi-jin. Instead of finding her, however, Jung-ho encounters Young-min (Ha Jung-woo, star of Opening Night Film MY DEAR ENEMY), a mild-mannered serial killer who reveals his fetish for hammers and women's hair in a way that viewers will not soon forget. As the night wears on, it becomes less and less clear who's chasing whom through the cobblestoned, rain-slicked back-alleys of Seoul: Jung-ho, Young-min or the cops.

Steeped in the tradition of South Korean revenge cinema—think OLD BOY and SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE, THE CHASER has also drawn comparisons to SE7EN and ZODIAC for its graphic thrills, cat-and-mouse twists, and eerie, atmospheric set and art design.

-- Vina Ha

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Sponsored by

Co-presenters

Brand Fury
San Francisco Film Society
Korean American Professionals
Japantown Business Association