Private Eye

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Movie: Private Eye
Revised romanization: Geurimja Salin
Hangul: 공중곡예사 / 그림자 살인
Director: Park Dae-Min
Writer: Park Dae-Min, Yoon Seon-Hee, Lee Young-Jong
Producer: Kim Bong-Seo, Lee Sang-Yong
Cinematography: Choi Chan-Min
Release Date: April 2, 2009
Runtime: 111 min.
Genre: Thriller / Period-1910 / Private Detective
Distributor: CJ Entertainment
Language: Korean
Country: South Korea

Plot

Set in 1910, talented medical student Kwang-Su (Ryu Deok-Hwan) roams around a wooded area at night looking for animal corpses to practice his surgical procedures upon. To Kwang-Su’s surprise he discovers a naked human corpse and he immediately proceeds to take the body home. The next day, Kwang-Su learns that the body he discovered is actually the son of a high ranking local politician who recently went missing. Kwang-Su having already removed some of the corpse’s organs knows if he goes to the police he will become the primary murder suspect. Without having anywhere to turn, Kwang-su then lucks upon a flyer advertising the skills of a prominent detective named Hong Jin-Ho (Hwang Jung-Min). He immediately goes to Hong Jin-Ho to ask for his help in finding the real murderer. Unfortunately for Kwang-Su, Jin-Ho has no desire to work on a murder case (he loathes danger) and quickly rebukes Kwang-Su’s offer. Kwang-Su doesn’t give up and eventually appeals to Jin-Ho’s competitive senses as well as pointing out the large reward available for capturing the murderer.

Notes

"Private Eye" opened #1 at the South Korean box office selling 234,715 tickets (38.6% of all ticket sales) during its opening April 3rd - June 5th weekend.
"Private Eye" sold 1.9 million tickets, grossing 12.6 billion ₩, through its domestic theatrical run (staying in the top ten for 5 weeks).

Cast



Hwang Jung-Min	Ryu Deok-Hwan	Uhm Ji-Won	Oh Dal-Su
Hong Jin-Ho	Jang Kwang-Su	Soon-Deok	Oh Young-Dal

Additional Cast Members:

Yoon Je-Moon - Uk-kwan (circus master)
Kim Eung-Su - Yoshioka
Song Jae-Ho - Min Chi-Sung
Son Jin-Hwan - Min Chi-Sung's servant
Oh Tae-Kyung - Min Soo-Hyun
Lee Se-Rang - madam
Joo A-Reum - Oak
Woo Seung-Hyeon - Gae-Ddong
Jeong Gyu-Su - newspaper editor
Yoo Seung-Mok - one armed man
Kwon Tae-Won - Police Commisioner
Eom Hyo-Seop - General Murata
Kim Ki-Cheon - Dal-Soo
Choi Jong-Ryul - Soon-Deok's father-in-law
Kim Hyang-Gi - Byeol-Yi
Kim Seo-Won - Beom-Goo
Song Yo-Seb - Bong-Tae
Hong Seo-Baek - herbal doctor
Jo Young-Jin - emperor
Son Young-Soon - one armed man's mother
Kim Byung-Chul - adjutant (assistant officer)
Park Jin-Woo - Policeman Genba
Ko Jun - traditional oriental doctor
Shin Yoo-Ram - strong young man of Joosaok
Kim Ki-Ho - member

Trailers

Image Gallery

Array

Film Festivals

2009 (13th) Fantasia Film Festival - July 9th-29th (International Premiere)
2009 (13th) Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival - July 16th-26th - Puchon Choice Competition Section

Awards

"Best Art Direction" - 2009 (30th) Blue Dragon Film Awards - Dec. 2nd

Comments

Anu Jun 12 2014 9:32 pm This is like Adele Blanc-Sec - goofy, stupid but fun.

It was a brief role but I loved the characterisation of the "heroine" in this.

utahaha Nov 16 2010 8:37 am great !

Ki Aug 02 2009 10:46 pm Set sometime in the early 20th century, “Private Eye” tracks the exploits of Korea’s very first (fictional) super detective named Hong Jin-Ho, played by the charismatic Hwang Jung-Min. And like another well known sleuth named Sherlock Holmes, who always had Dr. Watson as his sidekick, Jin-Ho has his very own sidekick played by Ryu Deok-Hwan (Like A Virgin). The movie itself likely won’t be remembered for its storyline as the story is fairly pedestrian and offers little in genuine mystery or suspense. What “Private Eye” does offer is two standout performances by its male leads to always keep you engaged.

Hwang Jung-Min seems born to play the role of the somewhat goofy but talented super sleuth, while Ryu Deok-Hwan brings a whole lot of unique charisma to a role lesser actors would make instantly forgettable. The light comedic elements found in the early portions of the film felt just right and, in retrospect, this is the tone the film should have maintained throughout its runtime. Instead, there’s a whole lot of dark secrets that Jin-Ho and Kwang-Su uncovers, with the tone becoming darker by the moment. Perhaps because of the lighter tone of the first half of the film or because of the poor execution of the second half, these dark secrets that are uncovered feels hackneyed and out place with the spirit of the early portions of the film. “Private Eye” also suffers from a poor choice for its main villain. Yoon Je-Moon being too familiar with Korean fans in modern gangster films, fails to bring anything to the table as the main villain and is a complete dud.

Action scenes looked generally good, with the first chase scene in particular, involving Jin-Ho and a mysterious follower, bringing “The Good The Bad The Weird” like visuals to the screen. There’s also moments where the filmmakers completely takes the viewers for granted with scenes that pushes the boundary of believability. The worst offender being the scene where Kwang-Su pulls out a cloth from a corpse’s mouth, with two other men standing right next to him.

Even with a story that feels contrived, “Private Eye” is worthwhile to check out thanks in large part to Hwang Jung-Min & Ryu Deok-Hwan. The movie does seems ripe for a sequel and if it does ever occur let’s hope for a better screenplay.

Private Eye

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Plot

Notes

Cast

Trailers

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Film Festivals

Awards

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