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Title: A Hard Day (2014)
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| Credited cast: | |||
| Sun-kyun Lee | ... | Det. Ko Gun-soo (as Seon-gyun Lee) | |
| Cho Jin-woong | ... | Park Chang-min (as Jin-woong Jo) | |
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Man-sik Jeong | ... | Det. Choi |
| Shin Jeong-geun | ... | Det. Squad Chief | |
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Suk-Tae Joo | ... | Detective Nam |
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Dong-yeong Kim | ... | Detective Do (as Dong-Young Kim) |
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Jung-eun Heo | ... | Min-a |
| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Park Bo-Gum | ... | Police Officer Lee | |
| Shin Dong-mi | ... | Ko Gun-soo's younger sister | |
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Jang In-sub | ... | Policeman |
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Ha-Suk Jo | ... | Lee Kwang-min |
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Kang-hyeon Kim | ... | Young-chul |
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Seung-hun Kim | ... | Chang-min (as Seung-hoon Kim) |
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Hee-Seok Lee | ... | Cabinet inspection team member |
| Jae-won Lee | ... | Jo Neung-hyun | |
Detective Go Geon-soo is having a hard day, and the following events happen to him in less than 24 hours: He receives a divorce notice from his wife. His mother passes away. He and his coworkers are investigated by police inspectors over alleged embezzlement. Then on his way to his mother's funeral, he drives recklessly and commits a fatal hit and run. He tries to cover-up the accident by hiding the man's corpse in his deceased mother's coffin. But someone has been watching all along, and Geon-soo gets a mysterious call from a person claiming that he was the sole witness to the crime, who now begins to threaten him. Written by Anonymous
Director Kim Seong-hoon's sophomore film A Hard Day arrives 8 years after his directorial debut, How The Lack Of Love Affects Two Men was released back in 2006.
Now, this film is a nerve racking roller-coaster ride, so the less you know going in the better. I shall attempt to introduce this film in one sentence: A comedy-action-thriller about the chaos that ensues after a detective is involved in a hit and run.
The film smoothly and skillfully balances the dark comedy, action and thriller elements, giving us ingenious set pieces (a particularly memorable one involving a toy soldier...) and also well-paced and effective suspense. The film does not waste a shot, let alone a scene to make audiences laugh, squirm and be intrigued through it's twists and turns. It's tightly-wound from beginning to end and will surely be one of the best times you'll have in the cinema (or in your home) this year.
Lee Seon-gyun (who you may recognize from Hong Sang-soo's films such as Nobody's Daughter Haewon) plays the lead role of detective Ko, a divorced father of a little girl who may not be the most ethical of cops. Lee carries the film, delivering a charismatic and humorous performance that makes us root for his character when he is faced with tough situations and pitted against Cho Jin-Woong's formidable protagonist. Kudos to Cho for interestingly pulling off a role that could have easily been bland.
This film was also filmed beautifully. It's gorgeous to look at, thanks to cinematographer Kim Tae-Sung, who gives us dynamic and impressive shots (one that immediately comes to mind is an overhead shot during a chase).
It's refreshing to see a South Korean film that's playful and never stops being fun, after the recent slew of superb but disturbing, dark thrillers such as I Saw The Devil, New World and The Man From Nowhere. Don't be fooled, this film has its dark moments. Most importantly, it holds one of the quintessential elements of movies: taking audiences on a ride that endlessly intrigues and keep them wanting more, having no clue where the next moment will take them.