Saikometeuri

If there's one thing I hate, it's animal violence. And that goes for movies as well. While I mostly admire Korean cinema for not messing around and being as considerate of the viewer as their Western counterparts, when it comes to animal abuse, they're a little too open about it in my opinion. And sometimes they even cross the line. I absolutely loathe these scenes and for a few minutes afterwards my stomach is clenched and my experience of the film is ruined. Okay, a shallow script built on stupid and illogical character behavior is in itself not a good foundation. Normally I wouldn't bother, but when a detective, photo in hand, is looking for the building he's (incidentally and coincidentally) standing next to and can only find it when a little girl shows him, you tell yourself that they've gotten carried away. But then there's another (actually completely unnecessary) scene with the little girl's father, and you realize that the little girl is actually the only intelligent character in the whole film. And not to be critical, she's also superbly acted. With Beom Kim it’s all up and then down again. If he doesn't have a really capable director standing next to him, he doesn't give much. But he's proven more than once that he's got it in him. Kang-woo Kim's performance, on the other hand, was one of the more positive things about the film. 2.5 stars. (08.08.2016)