*This review has been produced for CUEAFS and our partners Cine-Vue
The review has been submitted to Cine-Vue; still unpublished
Alternative title: Ajeossi Written and directed by: Leong-beom Lee Starring: Bin Won, Sae-ron Kim and Thanayong Wongtrakul
What starts out as a slow-paced ordinary story with not much to put one's finger on, besides the obvious appealing coolness and charm of the lead character, turns into a dramatic combination of drama, exhilarating fight sequences and multi-layered character development in the South Korean action thriller “The Man from Nowhere”. Director Jeong-beom Lee uses a well-known story of a skilled man on a journey to rescue a loved one, supplementing the storyline with a few side elements and intricate camera movements that add colour to the plot and tincture to the characters.
The film begins with the depiction of the main characters, leading seemingly unconnected lives. Cha Tae-Sik (Bin Won, “Mother”) is a quiet pawnshop owner who has withdrawn himself from society after a personal tragedy has struck him, whose only link to the outside world is the little girl next door, So-Mi. When the girl is kidnapped, her mother is murdered and her organs are harvested, Cha sets on a bloody journey that will lead him out of the shadows and will turn him into a dark knight who will fight all evil in his quest to rescue the child, finding unknown love in his heart for his 'next door neighbour'.
One might see in this film the shades of other productions such as Tony Scott's “Man on Fire” or Luc Besson's “Leon: The Professional”, with fight sequences similar to the Bourne trilogy and a man's determination to take justice in one's own hands which reminds of “Law Abiding Citizen”. However, “The Man from Nowhere” does not fall under the shadow of those films, but builds its own identity and convinces with its dark gloomy mood and believable characters. With the addition of the one-dimensionally evil gangsters, a sometimes cheesy dialogue and a happy ending, the film is truly a two-hour delight entrenched within the action thriller genre.
Bin Won is incredible in his performance, exhibiting his wonderful array of acting talents in the portrayal of a character so deeply different from Yoon Do-joon in “Mother”. His exquisite display of a range of emotions is absolutely beautiful – from downfall and devastation to ruthlessness and mercilessness and sympathy and affection. His posture and the way his seemingly untouchable coolness breaks down so easily and unexpectedly from the pain he feels, is admirably portrayed by Bin Won, and even more so impressive are his too-quick-for-the-eye-to-see fighting techniques.
Sae-ron Kim who plays So-Mi does not fail to carry her role charmingly well and compliments the brilliance of Bin Won. She adds youthful energy to the plot and a type of dramatic compassion that only a child could provoke. Her character is not overly emotion-tinted, but believable and genuine, and her presence sheds light on a different layer of Cha's character, whose affection for the girl is spectacularly made obvious even before he sets on his revengeful journey in the name of her rescue.
What starts out as a medium to unnoticeable performance by Thanayong Wongtrakul, who plays Ramrowan, turns into an impressive side story that interweaves with the main plot in an unforced natural way. Ramrowan's only lines in the film refer to his admiration of the lead character, and Thanayong does a beautiful job expressing his awe for a worthy adversary throughout the rest of the film without saying a word. The final fight is a battle of honour between two matching opponents to determine superiority, which has its roots in a deeply Oriental and traditionalist understanding of honour and excellence. His emotional transformation adds a different shade to the story, with his sympathy and sadness for the little girl bringing him to oppose his anti-hero statute and be human.
Beautifully scripted and beautifully executed, “The Man from Nowhere” is a delightful symbiosis of delicate threads of different stories that flow alongside one another and interweave in an genuine and believable manner. There is not one place in the film where the action or dialogue is unnecessary, over-acted or cheap, and the amazing score builds onto the drama and adds intensity to the scenes. A revenge film, which is not mean-spirited, an exhilarating action film with fragments of moderate drama and a familiar story with a softer flow and multi-layered characters – these are the elements of “The Man from Nowhere” that set it far apart from other similar productions and turn it into a splendid depiction of fighting excellence and emotional devastation with character and story development that does not fail to impress and touch one's mind and heart.
