Review of The Yellow Sea (2010) by Walter M — 05 Dec 2011

In the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture at the intersection of North Korea, China and Russia, many of the citizens resort to illegal activities just to get by. Gu-nam(Ha Jung-woo) works as a cab driver while futilely playing mah jong to try to pay off the 60,000 yuan he borrowed for his wife's visa into South Korea. Everybody else, including the two guys who visit him in the night wanting their money back, think that since he has not heard from her, she has obviously left him and is now sleeping around with half of Korea. He holds out hope, thinking that she would not abandon their daughter who his mother cares for. And hope does arrive in the person of Myun(Yun-Seok Kim) who offers to pay off his debts. The only question Gu-nam has is who does he have to kill?

There is much to admire in "The Yellow Sea," namely an intriguing setting and the plight of the dispossessed Joseonjok, mixed in with a noir plot of a man in trouble in way over his head, finely executed in a slow burn in the first half. So far, so good. What troubles me about the second half is not the escalating violence which was inevitable. In any case, the foot chases are well handled, especially the first one, and the second one is like a mini-triathlon in and of itself. But there is only one way for them to be resolved, otherwise the movie ends. That's not to mention the plot spinning out of control with major characters suddenly being introduced out of thin air. As time goes on, the movie becomes increasingly less about Gun-am which is a shame because he is sympathetic, not only because he is not the only character getting any sex.