Open City
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User Rating
Current user rating: 85/100 (7 votes)
Profile
- Movie: Open City
- Revised Romanization: Mubangbi Doshi
- Hangul: 무방비도시 / 무방비 도시
- Director: Lee Sang-Ki
- Writer: Lee Sang-Ki
- Producer: Jeun Ho-Jin
- Cinematographer: Shin Ok-Hyeon
- Release Date: January 10, 2008
- Runtime : 112 minutes
- Production Budget: US$4,500,000
- Distributor: CJ Entertainment
- Country: South Korea
- Language: Korean
Plot
Baek Jang-mi (Son Ye-Jin) is a fiercely attractive, sexy pickpocket. While residing in Japan, she is caught at the scene of a crime with her bodyguard Choi Seong-su (Shim Ji-Ho) and is forced to return to her home country to avoid the authorities. Utilizing the skills she learned in Japan, she opens a tattoo parlor, but a burning desire to expand the pickpocket organization in Korea lingers. She forms a new gang, calling it the Samsung Gang, and works to bring her dead mother’s old friend and legendary pickpocket Kang Man-ok Kim Hae-Suk into the fold. Jang-mi launches her activities in the heart of Dongdaemun.
Cho Dae-young (Kim Myung-Min) is a natural detective with the highest number of arrests to his credit within his team. An elite cop who deals with the most heinous crimes, he is ordered to join the task force to crack down on the pickpockets, he is reluctant to work on the unit due to his painful past: His pickpocket mother has a criminal record spanning 17 arrests. Despite his reservations, however, he is convinced to join the team by his old friend, Lieutenant Oh. Vowing to undo his mother’s wrongs, he joins the investigations, armed with his police instinct and passion for the work.
With her Korean pickpocket gang, Baek Jang-mi begins to make big money. One day after a successful heist she is attacked by members of their rival Twin Gang, but she is rescued by Dae-young, who was investigating a case nearby. The two immediately feel an attraction for each other, but after Jang-mi discovers Dae-young is a cop, she quickly leaves the scene. Meanwhile Dae-young, while looking through some police files handed to him by Lieutenant Oh, finds out that the woman he saved is none other than Baek Jang-mi. He senses an inevitable fight looming on the horizon.
The WAIS traces of Jang-mi’s movements indicate she had been in Japan each time a huge pickpocket heist took place. Nonetheless, Dae-young goes after Jang-mi, but becomes mesmerized by her devastating beauty and feels himself falling prey to her magic…
Cast
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| Son Ye-Jin | Kim Myung-Min | Kim Hae-Suk | Son Byung-Ho | Kim Jun-Bae |
| Baek Jang-mi | Detective Cho Dae-Young | Man-ok Kang | Lieutenant Oh Yeon-su | Park Byeong-Cheol |
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| Shim Ji-Ho | Park Kil-Soo | Park Seong-Woong | Do Ki-Seok | Kim Byung-Ok |
| Choi Seong-su (Antenna) | Son Yong-su Son | Hong Chang-Hwa | Lee Won-Jong | Ki-taek Hong / Yong-taek Hong |
Additional Cast Members:
- Yun Yu-Seon - Su-hyeon Cho (Dae-Young's sister)
- Kim Jung-Tae
- Ji Dae-Han - Gwang-Seob Kim
- Lee Eol
- Jo Sang-Geon
- Lee Hye-Suk
- Park Hyeon-Seo
- Park Seong-Min
- Oh Woo-Jung
- Park Hyeok-Kwon
- Kim Ki-Cheon
- Kim Hee-Su
- Jeon Ha-Eun
- Lee Ho-Young - Det. Yun
- Lee Eun-Mi - massage girl
Trailer
Image Gallery
Awards
- "Best Supporting Actress" (Kim Hae-Suk) - 2008 (45th) Daejong Film Awards - June 27, 2008
- "Best Lighting" - 2008 (31st) Golden Cinematography Awards - December 23, 2008
- "Bronze Medal Cinematography" - 2008 (31st) Golden Cinematography Awards - December 23, 2008
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Ki Says:
Jun 01 2009 1:32 am
A gang of wealthy criminals, indulging in the art of pick-pocketing, runs amok in the city of Seoul and steals an alarming amount of money from the people on the streets. That’s a scene straight out of the new Korean film “Open City,” but it could just as easily work as a metaphor for the filmmakers of “Open City” and how they pick-pocketed the money from the casual movie goers for “Open City.” No doubt about it, Open City is an alarmingly dumb film that tests your patience and willingness to follow its putrid storyline. It only takes two scenes before you start scratching your head in disbelief. A victim from a pick-pocket attempt gone wrong gets her arm slashed almost in half by a knife wielding gang member, but she never screams out in pain, rather she just sits there with a confused gaze … in a department store during the middle of the day. And, as Karen Carpenter once sang, ”We’ve only just begun.”
opencitymain2.jpgThe oddball story found within “Open City” centers around a jet-set criminal organization named the Samsung gang (corporate plug right there), who are involved in the highly lucrative trade of pick pocketing (hunh?). The Samsung group have ties with the Japanese Yakuza and worked successfully out of the Osaka, Japan area. Without much explanation, the group then moves back to their home base of Seoul and starts pilfering the local citizens there. The leader of the Samsung group is Jang-mi Baek. She works as a tattoo artist by day and by night is the mastermind of the Samsung group.
When the Samsung group move into the busy Myeongdong shopping area of Seoul, Jang-mi is spotted by a rival gang leader named Ki-taek. Ki-taek ambushes Jang-mi while she walks in a back alley of Myeongdong and starts beating her ferociously in front of his men. Unbeknown to all the pick pocketing gangsters assembled in the alley way, a cop happens to be sitting in a car nearby. The cop’s name is Dae-yeong and he doesn’t take bull. Dae-Young beats the thugs mercilessly and afterwards, takes the victim to a nearby cafe. When Dae-Young arrives back at their table with coffee Jang-mi is already long gone.
Jang-mi plans for even bigger heists but she needs the helps of a legendary pick-pocket named Mang-ok Kang. Mang-ok Kang has just been released from jail and has vowed to leave the criminal world behind. Mang-ok refuses all of Jang-mi’s overtures to join her organization, but when Jang-mi uncovers a startlingly secret between Mang-ok and the cop that rescued her a few days earlier Dae-Young, she may have to break her vow.
The relationship between Dae-Young and Mang-ok is more appropriate for a third rate soap opera and will likely cause the audience to roll their eyes in disbelief or run for the exit doors and upchuck all the popcorn and dried octopus they ate prior to that cheesy revelation. But if you think that’s the lowest point of the movie think again. There’s plenty of more (unbelievable) surprises stored in Open City.
The main drawing card for the film would be with Ye-jin Son’s performance as a sexy villainess. Normally associated with sweet innocent roles (Classic / Lover’s Concerto), Ye-jin Son brings out an artillery of mini skirts, stilettos and low cut blouses to heat up the screen. In theory at least. Although Ye-Jin Son’s performance wasn’t as bad as the movie’s script, she certainly wasn’t convincing as a seductress either. To be frank, no matter how many cigarettes she puffed on or however many low cut dresses she wore, she still carried the persona of a sweet innocent girl, role playing as a sexy vixen on Halloween. Co-star Myeong-min Kim was way better in his last movie “Return” and exuded all of the charisma of a wallflower in “Open City.” The supporting cast was the worst of the lot, having way too many familiar faces play way too familiar cop or villain supporting roles.
If you’re holding out hope that the actual pick pocketing scenes may hold interest or excitement, guess again. Every one of those scenes were shot in slow motion, negating the need to possess any kind of skill for those scenes.
There’s a lot of dumb things about Open City. So much so that I wouldn’t know where to start, but the yacht scene at the end does stand out for its sheer banality. In case you’re wondering why, just remind yourself the next time you’re driving a yacht away from a cop with a loaded pistol … “duck!” Adding more insult to injury, there’s also the silliest of silly surprises given at the end of the movie. If I had to rate the magnitude of stupidity found within that last scene, it would have easily scored a perfect 10.
One of the few scenes I actually liked in Open City summed up my feelings towards “Open City” perfectly. When police officer Dae-Young walked up to the thugs beating up Jang-mi in the alleyway, he nonchalantly placed his hand inside of his jacket pocket. He then pulled his hand out and revealed a tightly clenched fist, with his middle finger prominently pointing up. My sentiments to the cast and crew of “Open City.”