The Man from Nowhere (2010)
"Ajeossi" (original title)

A quiet pawnshop keeper with a violent past takes on a drug- and organ trafficking ring in hope of saving the child who is his only friend.

Director:

Jeong-beom Lee

Writer:

Jeong-beom Lee

Stars:

Bin Won, Sae-ron Kim, Tae-hoon Kim

4 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bin Won	...	Cha Tae-sik
Sae-ron Kim	...	Jeong So-mi
Tae-hoon Kim	...	Kim Chi-gon
Hee-won Kim	...	Man-seok
Seong-oh Kim	...	Jong-seok
Jong-pil Lee	...	Detective No
Thanayong Wongtrakul	...	Ramrowan
Hyo-seo Kim	...	Hyo-jeong
Young-chang Song	...	Oh Myung-gyu
Su-ryun Baek	...	Old Woman (as Soo-ryeon Baek)
Kyeong-eup Nam	...	Section Chief
Jeong Do-won	...	Detective Park
Do Won Kwak	...	Detective Kim
Seok-hyeon Jo	...	Moon Dal-seo
Sang-Kyeong Son	...	Bear

Storyline

An ex-special agent CHA Tae-shik's only connection to the rest of the world is a little girl, So-mi, who lives nearby. Her mother, Hyo-jeong smuggles drugs from a drug trafficking organization and entrusts Tae-shik with the product, without letting him know. The traffickers find out about her smuggling and kidnap both Hyo-jeong and So-mi. The gang promises to release them if Tae-shik makes a delivery for them, however it actually is a larger plot to eliminate a rival drug ring leader. When Hyo-jeon's disemboweled body is discovered, Tae-shik realizes that So-mi's life may also be in danger. Tae-shik becomes enraged at the prospect that So-mi may already be dead and prepares for a battle, putting his own life at risk.

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Plot Keywords:

drugs | drug trafficking | pawnshop | organ trafficking | shot in the stomach | 

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Taglines:

Should have left him alone

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody violence, pervasive language, drug content and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [jp]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

5 August 2010 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

The Man from Nowhere

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinema Service, Opus Pictures, United Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The phone Cha Tae-Sik uses is a Samsung A900M.

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Quotes

Jeong So-mi: Mister? I embarrass you too, right? That's why you ignored me? It's okay. My teacher and all the kids do that too. Mom said that if I get lost, I should forget our address and phone number. She gets drunk and says we should die. Even though that pig called me a bum... you're meaner. But I don't hate you. Because if I do, I won't have anyone I like. Thinking about it hurts me here. So I won't hate you.

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Connections

Remade as The Man from Nowhere

User Reviews

Another fantastic thriller/drama brought to us by South Korea

Let me start off by saying that I was skeptical whether I should watch this movie because of all the comparisons here to US productions. Because while I did enjoy most of the ones named, not enough to want to see a basically South Korean copycat at the theater.

If you fear the same thing: Don't worry! This movie is exactly what you would expect from great Korean cinema, comparable to the likes of "The Chaser", "Memories of Murder" and "A Bittersweet Life". In this movie, there is lots of rather believable tragedy, little kitsch (there is the occasional unsuitable one-liner and the girl sometimes says things that in my opinion are too mature for her age and yank a little too much at the emotional chain - these are basically the things that brought my rating down to 9/10) and a fair amount of graphic violence and realism in the fighting scenes. There are also some wacky characters just like they appear somewhat frequently in east Asian productions but I think they fit in quite nicely despite the otherwise very serious tone.

If one were to compare it to a US production, I would go with e.g. "A History of Violence" because of the serious tone and the realism but still, the overall style is drastically different.

The whole experience is nicely rounded off with a very beautiful score and the only thing I considered negative besides what I already mentioned was that the plot is moving very fast. At various points I was not sure whether I didn't pay enough attention or whether details were left out. Meaning for instance how one character got the information about another character. These connections of information between characters are not always clear in my opinion but it does not really hurt the story and I am sure that it would be clear with a second viewing - something that this movie absolutely deserves.