Korean movie "Midnight" review part one

 

 Release date: June 30, 2021 in theaters and also available for home viewing. Originally the film was supposed to have been released in the Autumn of 2020 but was delayed and you know why.

Length: 94 minutes    Director and screenwriter: Kwon Ob-Seung

Trailer for the movie

Main Cast: Really just the top four had much screen time. All of the action took place in one day, say about a fourteen hour stretch from noon until about 2:00 am, perhaps a bit later.

Jin Ki-Joo as Kim Kyung-Mi.... Thirty year old woman who is deaf and lives with her mother who is the same way, didn't know the condition could be hereditary. Kyung-Mi works at a call center as their hearing impaired service rep and became the target of a serial killer.

Kii Hae-Yeon as Mrs. Kim.... No first name  so just will refer to her as Kim in the posts. She's Kyung-Mi's mother who is also deaf and she works as a tailor.

Wi Ha-Joon as Do-Shik.... The serial killer who appears to be in his late twenties. Hate to say it but he's quite good at what he does as Do-Shik comes off as a very respectable businessman. But he's a ruthless person, he killed two in the film and who knows how many before that.

Park Hoon as Jong-Tak.... Also in his late twenties and works as a manger for a security company. He's a veteran and such an accomplished fighter as Do-Shik will find out, Jong-Tak is the older brother of the below woman.

Kim Hye-Won as So-Jong.... As mentioned the above's younger sister who we didn't see much of but that's because she had been captured by Do-Shik and left tied up in his van!

 Though I've viewed many more Japanese horror/suspense films to me Korean films in that vein have been a bit better. Have watched well over a hundred so surprised there haven't been more reviews, will try to change that but prefer the movies that are cult or B-Films. As was the case for the recent 'Eizouken' movie will have the review in two posts because of the amount of screenshots. Took 110 of them so this first post will go up to the 46th screenshot, next post will continue from there and all of the screenshots will be in order of what took place. Hope to keep my words to a minimum again and let the pictures tell more of the story.

 However you'll notice many more screenshots than usual that don't have any dialogue. That's because the main star Kyung-Mi and her mother Kim are both deaf and use sign language, this was kind of a quiet movie too because of that. Screenshots were also a bit odd, most videos are sized 1920 x 1080, this film was 1920 x 800. Fairly decent movie which didn't make the Seoul police look all that efficient though thought they always have been. For instance the two women can't hear so the police force has zero officers who can use sign language? It was that way in the film and if they did have an interpreter then perhaps a few potential murders could have been prevented, more on that in the review.

 Said in the beginning all of the action took place in one day which was almost correct. The film did begin with a five minute scene from perhaps the previous night where we were introduced to the movie's antagonist Do-Shik, that's him above in the second and fourth screenshots. We never learned one thing in this film about the man's background such as where does he live, does he have a job and why did be become such a ruthless serial killer? In this first scene we witnessed a pair of killings by Do-Shik, first he lured a woman into his van but pretending to be hurt and what a gullible woman she was as he quickly slayed her but we didn't see the actual deed. 

 Nor did we see Do-Shik's other murder which was of a young man and he dumped both bodies near each other. Don't many serial killers enjoy advertising their work? Think that's the case here and what took place was Do-Shik notifying the police about the murdered woman, he claimed three immigrants were responsible for the savage death as he witnessed it. Upon examining the body the officers noticed another victim lying just a few feet away but Do-Shik claimed not to know about that killing which was of a male. The police didn't consider Do-Shik to be a suspect and that wasn't the first time that would happen in this film. He has a van which he operates out of, it has many changes of clothes such as suits and Do-Shik does look like any normal man around thirty in age. Plus in the van is his arsenal of 'weapons' such as many knives, a tool kit and does he live in it?

 Those top three screenshots above feature the movie's 'heroine' Kyung-Mi. She's a thirty year old woman who is deaf, she lives with her mother who is also deaf and we didn't hear one thing about her father. Kyung-Mi works as a customer representative for the Care For You company and she deals with their hearing impaired customers. Though a very serious movie there was one humorous scene in the beginning where Kyung-Mi 'invited' herself to a company dinner where some of their influential backers would be. No one knew how to act around Kyung-Mi and began saying some nasty things about her thinking she wouldn't understand. Deaf people are also very adept at reading lips which she can do very well, Kyung-Mi soon turned the tables on this crew of cruel people as she began putting them down in sign language and they were clueless on what she was saying. 

 Don't know if deaf people have a harder time in Korea than in America or if it's perhaps tough in both places, lot of the story did deal with the difficulties deaf people have in communicating with others. In that bottom screenshot above is a pair who we saw just a bit of in the first forty minutes but they'll be playing a major part in the story during the film's second half. On the left is Jong-Tak who is about 28 in age, he currently works as a security guard and is such a skilled fighter who was in the Army. The woman is Jong-Tak's younger sister So-Jung, she's a college student and their parents are deceased. In that screenshot So-Jung was pleading with her brother to let her go out clubbing that night with her friends. He put his foot down saying No but eventually relented and said to be home by 10:00 pm when his security guard shift ended, can you start to imagine who may be Do-Shik's next victim?

 So much of the action took place at night so most of the screenshots will be quite dark plus as mentioned there wasn't all that much dialogue. In that above top pic you can see Kyung-Mi waiting in her van for her mother. That 'glowing object' is a motion detector which let's Kyung-Mi know if someone is approaching the van or as we'll see if someone is in it! She was waiting for her mother Kim who works as a tailor, she's very efficient at making clothes and just received a nice bonus for her work. So as the pair were heading home Kim told her daughter they should celebrate that bonus with some food, Kim would get it while Kyung-Mi was parking the van and then meet her. Getting food never took place as this is when the movie started to become quite suspenseful, say at the twenty minute mark and unknown to them and So-Jung lurking in the darkness was Do-Shik.

 You can see Kim above waiting for her daughter, she had been spotted by Do-Shik and he's made her his next target. But before he could do anything walking by Kim was So-Jung, sister of Jong-Tak, going in the opposite direction. Now it's too much of a good thing for Do-Shik, two potential victims and who should be go after first? It appeared it was So-Jung but we didn't learn about her outcome for quite a while but she had been kidnapped, of course being deaf Kim couldn't hear anything that happened. Finally arriving on the scene after parking the van was Kyung-Mi and now Do-Shik thought he'd be in line for a triple killing. Kyung-Mi was quite leery about the setting, especially after a white high heel was kicked in her direction. Soon another shoe was flung towards her and upon investigating she found a woman who was badly hurt in an alley way, did Do-Shik have anything to do with that? Don't know but he soon burst into the alley and after a short struggle Kyung-Mi was able to escape but was being hunted down by Do-Shik who at first didn't know she was deaf.

****EDIT:  Upon further reflection think the woman in the alley was So-Jung, it was so dark couldn't tell if it was her or not. But can't imagine who else it would have been and soon she was thrown into the back of Do-Shik's van and tied up.

 Final segment for this post and said to myself 'Oooops', am making this first one too long. Have to realize not every detail needs to be explained and will try to zip through this faster. The final scene for this post is a two-parter which will continue on into the next post, may have been the best scene but also the most frustrating. Kyung-Mi was able to reach the huge garage where her van was parked, in pursuit was Do-Shik but of course Kyung-Mi wouldn't know if he was five feet away or a hundred. Eventually he did catch up to her but being much smaller Kyung-Mi was able to squeeze through a small door and was able to reach her van. Very quietly she opened the door and thought she was safe but all of a sudden the motion detector went off.

 Of all things who should be in the van but Do-Shik and you really had t wonder how? Seriously, how did he get to the van before Kyung-Mi and get into it, plus how did he know it was her van? Do-Shik said to drive and that's what Kyung-Mi did.... right into a wall at top speed!!!! She was able to brace herself but not Do-Shik who was stunned which left enough time for Kyung-Mi to flee the garage and make it to where her mother Kim was. The mother had no clue what had been going on and why was her daughter in such a frenzy? Kyung-Mi only had time to explain a few of the events as she needed to contact the police, nearby was a 911 call center. Kyung-Mi did press the emergency button but of course was unable to hear or speak to anyone at the other end. What made this situation even more creepier for the pair was that approaching them was an unknown man, Kyung-Mi's assailant?

 Yes it was but she didn't know that at first. Do-Shik had worn a mask during the attack, after his failure to nab Kyung-Mi he went back to his van, ditched the mask and put on a business suit. So he looked like any young businessman and told the women he was looking for his sister, the one that been seen by Kyung-Mi? This is when Do-Shik confirmed that both women were deaf and now it was just a matter of how should he kill them? But out of the blue arrived a police car to thwart his plans as the 911 center sent the patrol car after Kyung-Mi had left them hanging. So it's off to the station for the three and will pick up in the next post what took place and what a dramatic scene that was. Whew, for just a 94 minute film so much took place and here are the screenshots of what's happened until now.