Pays : Corée
Genre : Polar
Durée : 2h03
Date de sortie : Décembre 2008
Avec : Kim Yoon-seok, Ha Jeong-woo, Seo Yeong-hee, Jeong Gi Seob
Réalisateur : Hong-Jim NA
Joong-ho, ancien flic devenu proxénète, reprend du service lorsqu’il se rend compte que ses filles disparaissent les unes après les autres. Très vite, il réalise qu’elles avaient toutes rencontré le même client, identifié par les derniers chiffres de son numéro de portable. Joong-ho se lance alors dans une chasse à l’homme, persuadé qu’il peut encore sauver Mi-jin, la dernière victime du tueur.
(L'avis exprimé par les rédacteurs de cette rubrique est indépendant du travail et des choix du Jury oecuménique.)
17 mai 2008
First it was Hong Kong, then Korea which turned out (churned out) efficient, exciting and well-crafted crime and police thrillers. Here is another Korean one considered sufficiently good to merit a special out of competition screening in Cannes.
This one has some interesting differences. A vicious serial killer has been killing women around Seoul. The Chaser is not a mystery as we learn very quickly the identity of the killer and we see him at work in some brutal scenes. The Chaser himself, literally running after the killer, fighting him and pursuing him, is not a policeman. He was a detective but was involved in a racket, a pimp supplying women to callers. Some of his girls have disappeared. As a last resort, he sends out a woman with a seven year old daughter, realising that she has been hired by a suspect client. He also informs his friends in the police.
In the meantime, the police are guarding the mayor of Seoul who is visiting a night market when a protestor throws excrement at him. The powers that be are more concerned with the mayoral incident and thwart the murder investigation. And many of the police are presented as incompetent. The Chaser continues to pursue his quarry to save the life of the prostitute and to care for her daughter.
The film doesn’t pull its punches in presenting the ugliness and fatality of the crimes though it gives few clues as to the ultimate motivation of the killer and the determination of the chaser.
Perhaps sometimes too graphic for a broad audience, but it is one of the well-crafted Korean police dramas.
