Despite being included in one of those parallel sections out of competition, ‘hunt‘ (‘Heon-teu’) was one of the most titles at the 75th Cannes Film Festival and it is the directorial debut of Lee Jung-jaefamous for leading the cast of one of Netflix’s biggest global phenomena, ‘The Squid Game’.
‘Hunt’ joins the growing list of South Korean films that have explored the historical conflict of the two Koreas; almost a subgenre of which I will always recommend ‘JSA: Joint Security Area’ (Park Chan-wook, 2000). Lee’s debut film takes us back to the 1980s to tell an espionage story whose trigger is the appearance of a North Korean defector who claims that his country has an agent infiltrated in South Korea’s national security.
Brothers facing death
This explosive discovery triggers a fierce power struggle and a desperate search for the “mole” in the South Korean organization. Anything is allowed to discover the truth since the life of the president is in danger. Wrapped in another project loaded with violence, Lee Jung-jae seems comfortable with the references to ‘The Squid Game’ and has stated that, in reality, it has similarities with ‘Hunt’: both fictions talk about disinformation and propaganda.
In fact, Lee Jung-jae was originally only going to act in the project but decided to take the reins when he noticed that he was drifting away from the topic he was most interested in exploring, “the fact that there are still people who use false information and false news for their political benefit“. ‘Hunt’ is, finally, a very personal job for the star: he produces, co-writes the script, directs and plays one of the two main roles. A character that, like the one he embodies in the Netflix hit, is full of surprises.
The other co-star is another popular Korean actor, Jung Woo-sungand in the cast another interpreter known for his role in ‘The Squid Game’ stands out: Heo Sung-tae. In that series he gave life to a despicable character and here he plays another role along the same lines, a brutal agent fond of torture.
There are actually quite a few violent, torture-loving characters in ‘Hunt,’ one of the biggest scams i’ve seen in recent years. There are scenes where the characters don’t even bother to protect themselves, they just run towards danger, towards bombs or shooting salads. So many people die during the 131 minutes of footage that at the end it is surprising that there are still Koreans alive.
‘Hunt’ steps on the accelerator in the first minute and doesn’t rest until the end and is so driven with what he proposes that ends up being nonsense. The characters in this spy thriller just jump from one scene to another running, hitting each other, killing each other, revealing secrets or changing sides. It doesn’t breathe. But this may be what you are looking for. And of course the action scenes are spectacular, with an intensity and violence that is not usually seen in Hollywood cinema. Simply, ‘Hunt’ crosses the line, for better and for worse.