Women-Led Thrillers Impress Overseas

NEWS & REPORTS
Feature

Feature

NEWS & REPORTS

Women-Led Thrillers Impress Overseas

Jan 02, 2018

Writerby Pierce Conran
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THE VILLAINESS, A SPECIAL LADY and More Make Global Waves

As in years past, thrillers made up a large portion of Korea’s theatrical output in 2017 and among the most visible of these overseas were films that foregrounded women protagonists. Following a Cannes bow, KIM Ok-vin slashed her way across global screens in the action-thriller The Villainess, KIM Hye-soo cemented her status as one of Korean cinema’s most fearsome gangsters in A Special Lady while KIM Yun-jin and YUM Jung-ah got the scares of the year in House of the Disappeared and The Mimic. Meanwhile, late 2016 kidnap thriller MISSING with UHM Ji-won and KONG Hyo-jin continued to blaze a trail on the film festival circuit.

The local cinema got a major shot in the arm at the 11th hour as 2017 turned out to be a success for the local industry overall, though the same could not be said for films championing female independence. With precious few major projects featuring lead female characters, the country’s bounty of talented women performers was largely sidelined, with not a single film featuring an actress in a lead role landing in the top 10 local titles of the year.

While they may not have fared well at the Korean box office, the few projects that did afford actresses top billing received a disproportionate amount of interest overseas and at local and global awards events. Early in the year KIM Min-hee became the first Korean performer to earn a prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, after winning the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Hong Sangsoo’s On the Beach at Night Alone.

Speaking of awards, NA Moon-hee swept the Best Actress category of almost every single prize show in Korea in late 2017, even picking up the Korean Amnesty International Prize and the Woman in Film Korea Award, for her performance in the Chuseok holiday sleeper hit I Can Speak, the 11th highest grossing Korean title of last year.

From the commercial genre arena, here were the five titles with female leads that made waves this year:

KIM Ok-vin, the most convincing Korean action star of 2017

Though a financial disappointment at home, JUNG Byung-gil’s action film The Villainess was one of the most visible Korean films around the world in 2017, starting with its midnight screening invitation at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Distributor Next Entertainment World (NEW) reported sales to 115 territories for the film, which included a theatrical and home video releases by Arrow Video in the United Kingdom and Well Go USA in North America.

Already a Cannes veteran for her leading part in PARK Chan-wook’s Thirst (2009), KIM stars as a trained assassin who seeks to exact revenge on the people who murdered her father. Before she can, she is taken in by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) who force her to join a covert assassination team.

From its very first Cannes screening, The Villainess drew huge praise for its innovative stunt choreography, which has drawn comparison to action classics like La Femme Nikita and recent titles such as the John Wick series and Hardcore Henry. As though issuing a warning to past male action heroes of Korean cinema, the film opens with a bold point-of-view sequence which follows KIM’s character as she chops her way through dozens of male opponents in the hallways of a warehouse.

KIM Hye-soo lays down the law once more with a new gang

After impressing viewers as the vicious leader of a crime syndicate in 2015’s Cannes-invited Coin Locker Girl, veteran star KIM Hye-soo once again took charge of a gang last year in the gangland thriller A Special Lady.

Debuting at the 50th anniversary of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, this first film by LEE An-gyu features KIM as the number two of a gang that begins to fall apart when the boss’ power falters. KIM’s character contends with male rivals and a vengeful district attorney while also trying to keep her secret son’s identity hidden from her opponents.

Taking a page from fellow power struggle gang thriller New World (2013) while adding in some propulsive action scenes, A Special Lady offers up another platform for KIM’s powerful screen charisma.

KIM Yun-jin and YUM Jung-ah lead K-Horror in 2017

The horror genre has long been dominated by women in Korea but rather than the spirits of teenage girls, 2017’s most significant K-horror outings were led by strong matriarchs coping with the loss of their children.

KIM Yun-jin is released from jail decades after being accused of killing her family in House of the Disappeared, LIM Dae-woong’s follow-up to 2006’s To Sir, With Love. Though shunted by society, KIM’s character takes matters into her own hands as she refuses to give up on finding the truth behind the night that destroyed her family.

Meanwhile, YUM Jung-ah retreated to the countryside with her family after the disappearance of her son in The Mimic, the latest mystery-thriller from Hide and Seek (2013) director HUH Jung. There she takes in a mysterious girl she finds in the woods, who begins to mimic the sounds of her own daughter.

UHM Ji-won and KONG Hyo-jin give the kidnap thriller genre a gender twist

Known for the melodrama ...ing (2003), E.oni turned her attention to the kidnap thriller genre in late 2016 with MISSING. Giving one of the most popular sub-genres in Korea a gender twist, the film features top actresses UHM Ji-won and KONG Hyo-jin as both the protagonist and antagonist in the tale of a Chinese-Korean au pair who kidnaps her charge, the daughter of a single career woman.

Unlike most Korean kidnap thrillers, MISSING sidelines the male detective as UHM’s career woman takes matter into her own hands, while KONG offers up a layered antagonist who does more than lurk in the shadows. Director E.oni will be back in theaters soon as she is currently completing post-production on the comedy-thriller The Accidental Detective 2.

More strong women characters on the way in 2018

Next year, the outlook looks more promising for women-led genre projects, with several compelling star-driven titles that are already among the most highly anticipated films of the year.

After turning KIM Hye-soo into a gang leader in Coin Locker Girl, director HAN Jun-hee is set to turn his eye to the police force with Bbaengban, an action-thriller dealing with a hit-and-run squad that will bring together KONG Hyo-jin, YUM Jung-ah and JEON Hye-jin (The Merciless, 2017). KONG is also leading LEE Kwon’s new thriller Doorlock, which begins filming this month.

KIM Hye-soo also has another thriller lineup as she is starring in the financial crisis film Sovereign Default, in which she plays the top analyst at the Bank of Korea in the lead up to the IMF crisis of 1997. Her co-stars include YOO Ah-in (Veteran, 2015) and French star Vincent Cassel (Black Swan, 2011) in his first role in Korea.

After winning several awards for her lead role in LEE Kyoung-mi’s 2016 thriller The Truth Beneath, SON Ye-jin will appear later this year in the crime thriller Negotiation (translated title). She stars with Hyun-bin (Confidential Assignment, 2017) in the latest from hit production company JK Films (Ode to My Father, 2014).

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