#THE WITCH PART 1 THE SUBVERSION DVD TV#

Soon Da-mi finds herself the focus of unwanted attention from a guy who claims to know her (Choi Woo-shik, Okja), and the more their paths cross, the more it becomes clear he’s not just an overly attached fan. Indeed the plot is almost identical to a recent indie movie, Kill Order (even down to the memory loss aspect), as well as recalling other similarly structured action flicks such as Broken Path and Ninja Assassin. Hoon-jung has essentially made a big budget version, one which feels largely aimed at a teenage audience, of the ‘character with a dark past attempting to make a new life for themselves’ plot trope.

#THE WITCH PART 1 THE SUBVERSION DVD TV#

When the producers ask Da-mi if she has any unique talents, a brief display of her gifts on national TV puts her firmly back on the radar, one which belongs to those who’ve been attempting to track her down for the past 10 years. Going from kids who’ve been bludgeoned to death to watching auditions for a talent show may seem like night and day, however the show does serve a narrative purpose. However a solution for all of the above comes along in the form of a reality TV show, think a Korean version of American Idol, which her best friend (played with an annoying level of enthusiasm by Go Min-si) is certain she can win, an outcome which would see her pocketing the sizable prize money. Da-mi makes for an endearing protagonist, and her performance anchors the not particularly engaging events that the first half of TW:P1.TS busies itself with – funds for the farm are running low, cattle prices are dropping, and Da-mi’s adopted Mum is developing Alzheimer’s. Played by newcomer Kim Da-mi, the events in the present make for a jarring tonal shift from the brutal blood soaked opening. Skip forward 10 years later, and the girl is now 19 with a reputation for being a high performer at school (I guess kids never leave school in Korea), and no memories of what took place before she was found outside the farm. Eventually collapsing from exhaustion by a nearby farm, she’s discovered by the elderly owner (Choi Jun-woo, who also featured in V.I.P.) as he puts out feed for his cattle before dawn breaks, and ends up being raised by him and his wife in a small rural town. Overseen by an emotionless professor (Jo Min-soo, star of Pieta) and her right hand man (Park Hee-soon, who also featured in Hoon-jung’s The Showdown and V.I.P.), we soon learn that 2 of the children have gotten away – one a little boy who is quickly captured, and the other a little girl, who escapes into the dense forest surrounding the facility. The opening of TW:P1.TS sets a tone that for many will hark back the grizzly mayhem found in I Saw the Devil, as we witness the aftermath in a hospital room of a group of children brutally massacred during the night, blood sprayed up the walls and every other surface in sight.

being bloated exercises in clunkiness and cliché, seeing him take on the subject matter of his latest got the best of my curiosity. While his preceding work has fallen short of the promise shown in his gritty gangster epic, with both 2015’s Tiger: An Old Hunter’s Tale and 2016’s V.I.P. After a modest debut with 2010’s period piece The Showdown, Hoon-jung really marked himself as a director to look out for with his 2012 sophomore feature The New World. The Subversion, (which is notably broader than its Korean title, which simply translates to The Witch), this latest entry into the cannon of Korean action goes for a genre mash-up, combining everything from sci-fi to horror to teenage drama.ĭirected and written by Park Hoon-jung, while less than 10 years ago Hoon-jung’s calling card was being known as the man who wrote the scripts for I Saw the Devil and The Unjust, in just a short space of time TW:P1.TS (as I’ll refer to it from now on) is already his fifth time sitting in the director’s chair. Featuring the unwieldy English title of The Witch: Part 1.

Warner Brothers appear to know this, so for their latest foray into the Korean market (following on from Age of Shadows and A Single Rider), they’ll be no doubt hoping to create a new kind of femme fatale. The Subversion” Korean Theatrical PosterĬast: Kim Da-Mi, Jo Min-Soo, Choi Woo-Sik, Go Min-Si, Park Hee-Soon, Da-Eun, Choi Jung-Woo, Oh Mi-Hee, Kim Byung-Ok, Lee Joo-Won, Kim Ha-NaĪs 2018 draws close to an end, the appetite for female driven action movies doesn’t seem to be waning in the West or the East.

The witch part 1 the subversion dvd