Summary
A curious spin on the heist genre, a stylish production and a solid cast elevates some familiar motifs in what is sure to be a South Korean cult film.
There’s any number of reasons why this action heist film is worth checking out. In addition to being director Yoon Sung-hyun’s first feature since 2011’s Bleak Night, the line-up of Lee Je-hoon, Ahn Jae-hong, Choi Woo-shik and Park Jung-min is a veritable who’s who of contemporary Korean cinema.
Yet it’s also significant as one of the first big films out of South Korea this year to have its global debut on Netflix after repeated delays due to the current pandemic. Following it’s premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, it only took an injunction and a few bits of legal wrangling for TIME TO HUNT (사냥의 시간) to hit our digital channels as a quiet blockbuster.
Ostensibly set in a dystopian future, Jun-seok (Lee) emerges from a three year prison stint after a botched job to find the won has crashed and his profits rendered worthless. So it’s one last job, which happens to be the mob-run gambling houses. Naturally, the gangs are none too happy about this, so they send killer Han (Park Hae-soo) to retrieve their stuff.
Yoon’s script starts well enough, thoroughly establishing these characters in an environment where the heist is not the primary push. Indeed, while it goes quickly through the machinations of heist planning – from a gun selection montage to dreams of tropical islands – it’s refreshing to see a genre flick that at least cares a little about its humans.
Yet it also does virtually nothing with the dystopian setting. There’s some digital iconography during the opening sequences to establish the future, and some later protests set the film against a background of civil unrest. For the most part, Yoon just relies on the tropes of the ‘one last haul’ genre that could be easily transplanted into any time or place.
It’s a technically beautiful action film though, with Lim Won-geun’s red-filtered photography full of individually perfect shots. This more than anything gives Yoon’s film the sense that it’s not part of our contemporary world and makes for a striking contrast against the muted greys and blues of the city. There’s a few other flourishes too, including a dream sequence involving fire crackers, that speak more to the art of the piece than the plot-driven construction.
It all culminates in an extended 30-minute action sequence that is captivating from beginning to end. As such, TIME TO HUNT may not revolutionise the way you think about heist cinema, but refines some of its most familiar aspects.
2020 | South Korea| DIRECTOR: Yoon Sung-hyun | WRITER: Yoon Sung-hyun | CAST: Lee Je-hoon, Ahn Jae-hong, Choi Woo-shik, Park Jung-min, Park Hae-soo | DISTRIBUTOR: Netflix (Global) | RUNNING TIME: 134 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 23 April 2020 (Global)
