Teo-neol (2016)

A man is on his way home when the poorly constructed tunnel he is driving through collapses, leaving him trapped.

Director:

Seong-hun Kim

Writer:

Seong-hun Kim (as Seong-hoon Kim)

Stars:

Ha Jung-woo, Bae Doona, Dal-su Oh

5 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ha Jung-woo	...	Lee Jung-Soo
Bae Doona	...	Se-Hyun
Dal-su Oh	...	Dae-Kyung
Shin Jeong-geun	...	Captain Kang
Nam Ji-Hyun	...	Mi-Na
Hyun-Chul Cho	...	Young guy in rescue team
Kim Hae-sook	...	Minister (as Hae-suk Kim)
Seung-mok Yoo	...	Reporter Jo
Hyuk-kwon Park	...	Government official
Park Jin-Woo	...	Government aide
Cheol-min Lee	...	Captain of drilling team
Sung-chun Han	...	Drone technician
Kim Seung-hun	...	Public hearing moderator (as Seung-hoon Kim)
Soo-jung Ye	...	Old mother
Jin Yong-wook	...	construction worker A (as Jin Yong-Ok)

Storyline

A MAN'S DESPERATE STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE Jung-su, an ordinary car dealer, is on his way home with a birthday cake for his daughter. As he drives into a tunnel an unbelievable thing happens; the tunnel collapses on him. Minutes later, he realizes that he is completely caught in between the debris. Outside, this breaking news creates media frenzy. An emergency response team is immediately organized to rescue him and tries to keep the media under control. As it becomes a national concern, the government promises full support for the rescue. Days pass without any success and people start to lose hope or interest in rescuing him. Hard decisions are forced on his family while no one knows whether Jung-su is dead or alive.

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Plot Keywords:

rescue team | trapped | trapped in a tunnel | tunnel collapse | dog | 

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Taglines:

When everything collapses, only hope remains.

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Certificate:

TV-14

Did You Know?

Goofs

Jung-soo leaves Mi-Na a half bottle of water. Her body is trapped under the rubble and although she can move her hand, she cannot move her arm. When he returns in later days, she apologizes for having drunk the rest of the water, but there is no way she could have gotten the bottle to her mouth.

User Reviews

Terrific disaster drama with strong performances.

I don't watch enough world cinema, let alone South Korean films, the country that gave us incredible flicks like Oldboy and Sky Blue (Wonderful Days) so when I see there's a showing at my other local cinema, I had to go and I didn't regret it.

Seong-hoon Kim, director of the highly acclaimed A Hard Day (now on my watchlist) tells us a story of a business man (Jung-woo Ha) who is on his way home to wife and daughter and unfortunately becomes trapped in a near fatal accident when a tunnel collapses on him and his car. We see his blight as he struggles to survive and how he comes to terms with the reality of what's happening.

There's a superb balance between him and the outside world who is attempting to rescue him, witnessing empathy, sympathy and later tragedy but also the lack of, from the media and politicians causing conflict about what's the right thing to do.

It's touching, when seeing the lengths people will go to in offering help in a time of crisis, like the radio station for example, playing him messages of support each day. This show of humanity reminded me of the epic TV movie of the late eighties, Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure and the more recent World Trade Centre, only fundamental difference, this not being a true story.

Sometimes I felt like being a passerby, watching the train wreck happen right before you, seeing things going from bad to worse without being able to lift a finger to do anything. But on the flip side it's purposefully comical to display another side of what it is to be human.

There's incredible performances for the three key characters, especially Cloud Atlas star Doona Bae who plays his grieving wife having to deal with the press whilst trying to do as much as she possibly can to aid the rescue. And Dal-su Oh is superb as the chief, who's in charge of the operation who has this moral obligation to save him.

The film is loaded with tough decisions and moral issues questioning you, what would you do if you were either of the three characters. It did drag, but only ever so slightly for the 126min running time. Has got an amazing score from Young-Jin Mok and the set pieces are on point with some amazing camera work.

I wouldn't recommend this for viewers with fear of tunnels or claustrophobia but a great drama with some amazing performances, a must-see for world cinema drama fans.

Running Time: 7 The Cast: 8 Performance: 9 Direction: 8 Story: 7 Script: 8 Creativity: 8 Soundtrack: 8 Job Description: 8 The Extra Bonus Points: 0

71% 7/10

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

26 August 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Tunnel

Filming Locations:

Seoul, South Korea

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$172,521, 28 August 2016

Gross USA:

$568,876

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$52,444,295

Company Credits

Production Co:

Another Sunday, BA Entertainment, History E&M

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1