New Trial

Kim Tae-yun's 2017 South Korean film rests on a real miscarriage of justice. A taxi driver is found dead, and Hyun-woo, the only witness, is charged with the murder and serves ten years. Years later a lawyer, Jun-young, meets him while doing pro bono work, and they set out together to prove his innocence. The film draws on the Iksan murder case of 2000; the real case was retried in 2016 and the defendant acquitted. Its most concrete passages are the flashbacks showing how the police obtained a confession from a young man. Kang Ha-neul's performance makes convincing the inability of someone released after ten years to find a place in society. The emotional pressure is high and the lawyer's transformation arrives too neatly. Who it's for: viewers interested in Korean courtroom drama and stories of real miscarriages of justice. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding scenes of police violence, or who will find the emotional manipulation excessive.