New World

A Korean crime film. Ja-sung has spent eight years working inside a crime organisation called Goldmoon as a police officer. He has been living that life so long that which side he is on is no longer clear even to him. His wife is pregnant and he still cannot get out. When the man at the head of the organisation dies in an accident the seat falls vacant. The police see an opportunity and want their own man moved into the leadership. Chief Kang runs the operation and refuses every request Ja-sung makes to leave. At the same time the person Ja-sung is closest to is the organisation's second in command, Jung Chung: Chinese-born, coarse, loyal, and the film's most alive character. The bond between them sits at the centre of the story. What the film is interested in is not action but the question of where loyalty belongs. Violence is used sparingly and hard; the lift scene is the best-known example. Lee Jung-jae plays Ja-sung, Choi Min-sik plays Chief Kang and Hwang Jung-min plays Jung Chung. Park Hoon-jung directed; he had earlier written the screenplay for I Saw the Devil. A production near the top of its genre for anyone who likes Korean crime cinema and undercover stories. For a viewer expecting fast action, the film is long and moves heavily.