Seoul Searching

The Man from Nowhere

Recently I have been expanding my palate of taste to foreign films. I have come to love British films mainly due to the quality of acting and sometimes the snarky comedy that is subtly added to these films. So I thought to myself that maybe I shouldn’t limit myself to English speaking films since I do love Pan’s Labyrinth and The Killer. So rummaging deep into Netflix I have found that they have a slew of Asian, mainly South Korean, action films and who doesn’t love a good action film right? Last night I took a chance on my first South Korean action film with The Man from Nowhere.

Cha Tae-sik (Won Bin) has secluded himself from the world and is running a small pawn shop in seedy part of the city. The only person that he really communicates with is a young girl by the name of So-mi (Kim Sae-ron) that lives in his building. So when So-mi’s mother is murdered and his only friend is kidnapped by an inspiring crime family, Tae-sik must dredge up a past life that he has tried to forget to save the small girl from her mother’s fate.

As first impressions go, I can say that I was very impressed with this film. The action scenes are intense and the acting is very well done. The film had a very nice balance between story and action, in a sense that one aspect did not take over the other. The story was engrossing; however comparisons are going to be heavily made by action genre fans to another film. The story has strong similarities to Luc Besson’s classic Leon: The Professional. Won plays an ex-black ops soldier that finds a connection to the world through a young girl. Jean Reno, who plays the title character in Besson’s film, plays a hitman that finds a connection to the world through a young girl. Yes the similarities can be made, but the stories do differ at times.

I will admit, since this is my first South Korean film I have really nothing to compare it too. I don’t like to compare foreign films to American films because I feel that American films do tend to “borrow” themes and styles from foreign films so how can I compare an ‘original’ to a ‘fake’? I can say that I was really impressed with Sae-ron, the young girl. To me a child actor is a child actor no matter what your nationality is and Sae-ron brought some wonderful acting to this film. The range and emotion that this young girl displays is magnificent and having to essentially be the heart of this film is very notable. I also liked the villains of this film. Both actors give the audience a Joker-like psychosis that just becomes frightening after a little while.

Like I mentioned a bit ago, I did like how writer/director Lee Jeong-beom balanced out this film. The film does a great job of making these characters believable and captivating and yet making the action thrilling. Some films have a hard time finding that fine line, where sometimes the drama takes over the action or there is too much action where the films characters become very one dimensional. I think that this balance was found in the pacing. Lee goes at the right pace to give his characters development and depth and then sprinkling in just enough action to keep his audience interested.

The Man from Nowhere is for all of those modern action fans that want to try something a little different. The story and pacing where darn near perfect and the acting was amazing. I think I will continue to explore other South Korean/Asian action films and see if I come across anything just as good or better.

The Verdict: Worth Your Time. Now on Netflix.