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omonatheydid
An exhilarating caper starring two of Korea’s top actors, Jung Jae-Young and award-winning actress Jeon Do-Yeon, Countdown is an highly assured debut feature by Huh Jong-ho that takes the audience through an entertaining journey through the underbelly of Korea.
One of the most expressive actors of her generation, South Korean star Jeon Do-youn (The Housemaid, Secret Sunshine) continues to reach new heights. Together with Jung Jae-young, famous for his roles as angry young men, she turns this assured debut from writer/director Huh Jong-ho into an exhilarating journey through the underbelly of contemporary Korea.
Tae (Jung) is the best collection agent in his firm, admired by his colleagues and dreaded by those he visits. He’s known for gathering his debts by any means necessary, and keeps a cattle prod handy while on the job. Following a series of unexpected fainting spells, Tae is told by a doctor that he has liver cancer, and would need a transplant to have any chance of surviving beyond three months. And so he puts his professional skills to work, setting out to collect a different sort of debt by tracking down the recipients of organs donated by his late son. First among his sources for a liver is Cha Ha-yeon (Jeon), a beguiling fraudster with a long list of enemies.
Locating Cha turns out to be easy, since she’s about to be released from prison. The deal she proposes, however, which includes getting even with the sleazy crime boss who set her up, jeopardizes Tae’s future. He struggles desperately to keep Cha, and her liver, safe until the transplant — even while Cha has other plans.
Jung, one of the most versatile actors in Korea, gives a subtle and moving performance as the seemingly emotionless tortured soul with a dark past. Jeon, who cements her position as one of her country’s best actors, is fantastic as the ruthlessly manipulative Cha.
Countdown, with its wit, style, perfect pacing and wonderful performances, establishes Huh as a talent to watch.
Source: TIFF.net, mayries13
Both actors are expected to be at Toronto during the premiere. Miss A's Min, who has her acting debut in this movie, is not confirmed.
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Date: 2011-08-26 09:50 am (UTC)Also, god I hated Secret Sunshine. I don't think I've ever felt so ill watching a film.
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Date: 2011-08-26 10:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 11:40 am (UTC)Did you see it? You didn't find it... hard?
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Date: 2011-08-26 01:00 pm (UTC)yes, for sure. i couldn't stop crying after the first "act". it's actually one of my favourite films for reasons I can't accurately articulate. after the first viewing, i kept going back, revisiting and thinking about its themes and messages and how impactful it was.
can you elaborate on why you felt that way, if it's okay with you? i've hardly ever met anyone else that's seen it (besides my rl friend who LOVED it as well). i can't gather if you hate it because it's pained you so much or that you also thought it was a bad movie.
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Date: 2011-08-26 01:34 pm (UTC)Oh god. Now I'm crying again...
I probably wasn't in the best of circumstances to be watching something like that in the first place. I didn't know anything about it beforehand. I didn't know what to expect. I was so emotionally spent after the first, what is it, 30 minutes and I couldn't believe the film would be going on for another 1,5h.
I guess the reason I resent the film so much is that it totally denied me any catharsis. I'm all for unconventional plot structures and alternative endings, but that just wasn't fair. It stirred all that shit in me and then left me to deal with on my own. Well fuck you too.
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Date: 2011-08-26 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 03:18 pm (UTC)i watched it not knowing much either, besides the fact that it had a qt poster (boy was that poster misleading...) and that song kangho was involved. by 'bad', i thought you might have felt like the film was reminiscent of what lars von trier does to his female characters - making them suffer purely for the sake of dramatic effect. lee changdong's style doesn't feel as forced or as gimmicky imo.
It stirred all that shit in me and then left me to deal with on my own.
that might have been the director's intention though. LCD is such a good storyteller and i think the lack of a closure towards the end resembles rl so much. shit happens more than once, we try to solve them, but we end up making more bad decisions when we turn a blind eye to the bad things and pretend that life is all cakes and rainbows. when we end up in an even worse state than before, in reality, there's no easy way to fix ourselves, no saviour to come and pull us out of this mess (although song kangho's character might be seen as that). if i remember correctly, the film ends with jeon doyeon trying to cut her own hair. it feels like she's taking baby steps and giving life another chance, and isn't this what we all go through? there's usually no moral of the story and no answers to why we're made to experience these events. imo, lee changdong nails it by not fluffing up the ending.
man i gotta stop writing essay-length comments on omona. embarrassed for myself tbh. btw i hope you're okay! i didn't mean to rouse those feelings again :/
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Date: 2011-08-26 04:07 pm (UTC)Well if it's any consolation, it's not like anyone else is visiting this thread...
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Date: 2011-08-26 04:28 pm (UTC)ikr. i'm lucky that film posts in omona are always so quiet.
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Date: 2011-08-26 10:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 11:36 am (UTC)