While several of Pluto’s storyline elements will likely combine to bring Yoon Sung-hyun’s Bleak Night (2010) to viewers’ minds, Shin Su-won’s low budget thriller nonetheless manages to stand on its own as a dissection of fear within a dark and twisted tale laced with social commentary; ultimately feeling far more a companion piece than a derivation. [Read More]
People: Jo Seong-ha
Helpless (화차, 2012) review: love, lies and disappearance
A deftly layered mystery thriller with depth, Helpless initially appears as the story of one man’s desperate search for his missing fiancée, gradually morphing to detail the myriad of lies his wife-to-be has told, with the “why” being every bit as important as the wherefore. [Read More]
Bleak Night (파수꾼, 2011) review: fractured friendships, shared guilt
Told through flashbacks and investigation, Bleak Night examines the collapse of teenage friendships after a boy’s suicide. A multi-layered, multi-themed dissection of masculine adolescence, it delves into issues of peer pressure, bullying, guilt, blame and culpability within a brooding, yet gripping, tale of the intricacies of relationships. [Read More]