THE SHAMELESS

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

A cop hunts a murder suspect, leading him to Jun-gil, the fugitive’s girlfriend. The man’s shady business has caught up with her, and the little bar she owns is in trouble. The cop takes advantage of the vulnerability, pretending to be someone else, becoming her right hand man, both a confidant and a bodyguard. Now it’s time to wait until his prey comes out of the shadows.

Fourteen years after Kilimanjaro, Oh Seung-uk is finally back in the director’s chair. The acclaimed screenwriter behind influential films like Green Fish and Christmas in August, part of a South Korean cinematic renaissance in the late 90s, makes his return with a film noir that’s about as noir as they come. It is a classic detective story that quietly glides into other territory — into a fascinating, intoxicating land of malaise. Here, violence and love are as one. Rage is inner, resilience is expected, and feelings are repressed to the edge of implosion. And we must mention the phenomenal performance of Jeon Do-yeon (The Housemaid, Secret Sunshine), undoubtedly one of the greatest actresses in Asian cinema today. To be seen together with Coin Locker Girl, to discover the romantic, and so very relevant, power of the South Korean thriller. − Julien Fonfrède