Taeksi woonjunsa (2017)

A widowed father and taxi driver who drives a German reporter from Seoul to Gwangju to cover the 1980 uprising, soon finds himself regretting his decision after being caught in the violence around him.

Director:

Hun Jang

Writer:

Yu-na Eom

Stars:

Kang-ho Song, Thomas Kretschmann, Hae-jin Yoo

17 wins & 28 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Kang-ho Song	...	Man-seob / Kim
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Peter
Hae-jin Yoo	...	Tae-sul / Hwang
Jun-yeol Ryu	...	Jae-sik / Gu
Hyuk-kwon Park	...	Reporter Choi
Gwi-hwa Choi
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Daniel Joey Albright	...	BBC Reporter David John
Saeromi Lee	...	Suncheon shoe stall owner

Storyline

May 1980. A Seoul taxi driver named Man-seob (SONG Kang-ho) comes across an offer too good to be true. If he drives a foreign passenger from Seoul down to Gwangju and back again before the curfew, he'll be paid the unthinkable sum of 100,000 won - enough to cover several months of unpaid rent. Without stopping to ask the details, he picks up the German reporter Peter (Thomas Kretschmann) and sets off along the highway. Although stopped by police roadblocks at the edge of Gwangju, Man-seob is desperate to earn his taxi fare, and eventually manages to find a way into the city. There they encounter students and ordinary citizens taking part in large-scale demonstrations against the government. Man-seob, alarmed by the danger in the air, pleads with Peter to go quickly back to Seoul. But Peter ignores him, and with the help of a university student Jae-sik (RYU Jun-yeol) and a Gwangju taxi driver named HWANG (YOO Hai-jin), begins shooting with his news camera. As time passes the situation ...

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Plot Keywords:

taxi driver | gwangju south korea | car chase | beating | car crash | 

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Taglines:

May 1980: A taxi driver heads to Gwangju

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] US official site

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean German English Japanese

Release Date:

11 August 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Taeksi Oonjeonsa

Filming Locations:

South Korea

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$331,854, 13 August 2017, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,527,829, 19 October 2017

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$833,339, 20 August 2017

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Lamp

Technical Specs

Runtime:

137 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

South Korea's submission to the Foreign Language Film Award of the 90th Annual Academy Awards.

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Quotes

Man-seob: His English is even worse than mine...

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Crazy Credits

Before the end credits roll, a footage shows the real Jürgen "Peter" Hinzpeter speaking out his heart about the desire to meet Kim Sa-bok, the driver again in future.

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Alternate Versions

In one of the Blu-ray versions, the title card and Korean intertitles have been omitted out.

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Soundtracks

Short Hair
Performed by Cho Yong-pil

User Reviews

A masterpiece

I've been watching Korean movies for a long time now, and this is just another amazing work of art from Korea. Great acting, Song is one of my favorite actors, he is amazing in this movie, but all the cast is to be praised. The story is very well told, it grips you to the screen from start to finish and it is not a small movie. I knew part of the troubled history of Korea by i had no idea this massacred ever existed. The way the director gets us there is no short of an amazing accomplishment, you never feel the movie is too long or just going trough the motions, it involves you in the story, you really feel like you are there.