[HanCinema's Film Review] "The Midnight Sun" + Full Movie

Lee Man-hee-I's experimentation with genre and form is one of his most distinct traits as a filmmaker. "The Midnight Sun" offers another sample of this tendency, with him combining crime with a family drama, while retaining his knack of presenting comments about Korean society.

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Detective Jang is the commander of the 330 unit of the police force, and a man so dedicated to his work, that sometimes he does not see his son, Gyoo-seok, and his wife, for days, as a rather funny scene in the beginning of the movie eloquently highlights. While he is researching a couple who have been committing robberies on a motorcycle the girl of the couple has seduced a man out of, his son meets orphan country boy In-dol, who is on the search for his sister. The two boys initially fight, but eventually become friends, with Jang's family taking the boy in and him searching for his sister. At the same time, a man Jang arrested 7 years ago, Lee Min-soo, is now released, and finds out that his wife is remarried and his son, whose treatment was the reason he started stealing in the past, is dead. Eventually, he seeks revenge through Gyoo-seok. In yet another arc, Mrs Jang's sister, Hye-ryeong, who is also living with them while working as a tourist guide, is being courted by Jang's colleague, Detective Park, eventually starting going out with him despite her sister's pleas not to date a policeman.

As it happens frequently in Lee Man-hee-I's movies, and Korean cinema to a point, the approach here is rather episodic, with him trying to fit as many events and characters as possible in the less than 100 minutes of the movie. In that fashion, the lives of the policemen at the time, for example, is highlighted in all its realistic glory, with them appearing overworked, underpaid, and in general in a much worse situation than many of their fellow citizens. The house the Jangs live in, and the fact that Park only has money to buy Hye-rong noodles, stress the fact quite intently, again with a pinch of humor.

Poorness, and the consequences of the war in society are also intently highlighted here, with the fate of Min-soo and In-dool being the main representative, as much as the reason behind a number of people turning to crime. In a very interesting scene that could be perceived as a note of optimism, Mrs Jang asks her sister to try and become an airhostess, essentially showing that there was a better future coming for the youths of the time if they made the right choices.

Apart from the social context, though, the persona of detective Jang emerges as a rather interesting one, with Heo Jang-kang eloquently portraying a police officer who is not brutal, nor glorified in any way, but only utterly dedicated to his work, to the expense of his family. This aspect is both quite intriguing regarding the presentation of the character, but also the medium that connects the crime with the drama, again in a rather interesting mashup. Particularly Jang's attitude during the kidnapping borders on the shocking, with him showcasing the fact that he is a man "imprisoned" in his own values.

The mashup also extends to the production values. Kim Deok-jin's cinematography changes depending on the setting, with the police precinct scenes having an almost stage play approach, through a camera that is mostly steady, while the action scenes feature permanent motion. Also of note are the sequences that begin and close the movie, which show the gavel of a judge hitting a sound block, in an approach that reminds intently of noir movies and also gives an ominous feel to the whole title. Yu Jae-won's editing gives a relatively fast pace to the movie that suits its episodic nature, with the succession of different styles of scenes working quite well here.

At the same time, though, that so much is happening in so little time, and Lee Man-hee-I's effort to present unlikely events that happen to "normal" people harms the film significantly, with many of the characters emerging becoming irrelevant in the end, and the narrative occasionally appearing directionless.

As such, "The Midnight Sun" has its merits, particularly on a number of individual aspects, but as a whole, does not make all that much sense.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

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"The Midnight Sun" is directed by Lee Man-hee-I, and features Heo Jang-kang, Kang-Shin Sung-il, Yoon Jung-hee, Kim Chang-sook, Mun Oh-jang, Lee Seung-hyun-III. Release date in Korea: 1972/07/01.