The Yellow Sea (2010) Hwanghae (original title)

Director:

Hong-jin Na

Writer:

Hong-jin Na (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 December 2011 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

The story of a cab driver in Yanji City, a region between North Korea, China and Russia. His wife goes to Korea to earn money...

Plot Keywords:

Stabbed In The Side | Covered In Blood | Chase | Stabbed In The Back | Stabbed To Death

Awards:

6 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Jung-woo Ha	...	Gu-nam
Yun-seok Kim	...	Myun-ga
Seong-Ha Cho	...	Tae-won
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Cheol-min Lee
Jae-hwa Kim	...	Girlfriend of Myeon Jeong Hak (uncredited)

Directed by
Hong-jin Na

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Hong-jin Na		screenplay

Produced by
Jong-eun Byun	....	executive producer
Dae-hoon Chung	....	line producer
Sung-goo Han	....	producer
Jung-hoon You	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Young-kyu Jang
Byung-hoon Lee

Cinematography by
Sung-je Lee

Film Editing by
Sun-min Kim

Production Design by
Hwo-Kyoung Lee

Costume Design by
Kyung-hwa Chae

Makeup Department
Hee Eun Lee	....	key prosthetic makeup artist
Yon-young Yan	....	makeup artist

Sound Department
Romain Bigorgne	....	sound effects editor
Tae-young Choi	....	sound re-recording mixer
Tae-young Choi	....	supervising sound editor
Yong Oh Choi	....	foley mixer
Kim Dong-Han	....	sound effects editor
Woo-jin Jo	....	sound recordist
Hye Young Kang	....	sound designer
Byung In Kim	....	dialogue editor
Chung Gyu Lee	....	foley artist
Su Hyun Lee	....	sound effects editor
Yong Ki Park	....	adr mixer
Yong Ki Park	....	sound re-recording mixer

Visual Effects by
Jai-hoon Cheong	....	visual effects
Tae-hoon Kim	....	vfx technical supervisor
Hyuk Lee	....	cgi marketing
Eui Dong Park	....	vfx technical supervisor
Jang Jin Park	....	visual effects producer
Hee Jung Ryu	....	visual effects executive producer

Camera and Electrical Department
Soon-wuk Hwang	....	lighting technician

Editorial Department
Gilbert Carreras	....	color timer

Other crew
Anna Kokourina	....	studio executive
Florence Larsonneur	....	business affairs for Fox International Productions
Sang-seob Yoo	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• Wellmade Starm
• Popcorn Films
• Showbox/Mediaplex (in association with)
• Fox International Productions (FIP) (in association with)
• Location Incentive Program of Pusan Film Commission (support)
• Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (support)
• Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (support)

Distributors

• Mediatres Estudio (2011) (Spain) (all media)
• Mediatres Estudio (2011) (Andorra) (all media)
• 20th Century Fox of Germany (2012) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Bounty Films (2011) (Bahamas) (theatrical)
• Klock Worx Company, The (2012) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Le Pacte (2011) (France) (theatrical)
• Showbox/Mediaplex (2011) (South Korea) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (2011) (South Korea) (theatrical)
• Wild Side Films (2011) (France) (theatrical)
• Fox World Cinema (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Monster Pictures (2011) (Australia) (all media)
• Monster Pictures (2011) (UK) (all media)
• Panorama Distributions (2012) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Panorama Distributions (2012) (Hong Kong) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Special Effects

• NEXT Visual Studio (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Live Tone  sound
• Seoul Metropolitan Government  funding
• Seoul Film Commission  funding

Also Known As:

"Hwanghae" - South Korea (original title)

MPAA:

Rated R for brutal bloody violence, some strong sexuality, nudity, and language

Runtime:

157 min | (None):140 min (international version) | USA:136 min

Country:

South Korea | USA | Hong Kong

Language:

Korean | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | South Korea:18 | Singapore:R21 | UK:18 | Japan:R15+ | Ireland:18 | Australia:R | France:-12 (with warning) | Germany:18 | New Zealand:R18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Manitoba/Ontario)

Company:

Wellmade Starm

Another bleak offering from Na Hong-Jin

featuring the same trio of director and leading men from the outstanding "The Chaser" Na Hong-Jin gives us a bleak slice of Korean life. All of the characters are unappealing and unsympathetic, but especially the violent loser Gu-Nam, who is sent on a murderous mission to Seoul by people trafficking gangster Myun-Ga. But despite Gu-Nams hopelessness you still root for him to survive and win despite the odds stacked against him. Na has crafted a flawed masterpiece from these broken elements, with plenty of his trademarks from The Chaser, like the outstanding cinematography (apart from some of the later chase scenes which seem to have been shot on a horrible video camera) and unrelenting violence. I would recommend it very highly.