A Hard Day

A Hard Day
Hangul 끝까지 간다
Revised Romanization Kkeutkkaji Ganda
Directed by Kim Seong-hun
Produced by Cha Ji-hyeon
Jang Won-seok
Written by Kim Seong-hun
Starring Lee Sun-kyun
Cho Jin-woong
Music by Mok Young-jin
Cinematography Kim Tae-seong
Edited by Kim Chang-ju
Production
company
AD406
Dasepo Club
Distributed by Showbox/Mediaplex
Release dates
  • May 18, 2014 (2014-05-18) (Cannes)
  • May 29, 2014 (2014-05-29) (South Korea)
Running time
 111 minutes
Country South Korea
Language Korean
Box office US$24.1 million

A Hard Day (Hangul: 끝까지 간다; RR: Kkeutkkaji Ganda; lit. "Take It to the End") is a 2014 South Korean crime action thriller film written and directed by Kim Seong-hun, and starring Lee Sun-kyun and Cho Jin-woong.[1][2][3][4][5] It was selected to compete in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[6][7][8][9]

Plot

Homicide Detective Ko Gun-su's mother recently died. As he drives to the funeral, he receives calls from his colleagues. His department are being investigated by internal affairs over bribery charges. Distracted by a dog, he runs over a homeless man.

Gun-su hides the body in his car trunk and arrives at the funeral home just in time to put his mother's corpse into the coffin. Gun-su then learns that the IAD officers have found the money in his drawer, and will search his car for more evidence. He hides the body in his mother's coffin, which is then buried without incidence. The next morning, his Chief tells him that IAD stopped investigating his department, thanks to a Lieutenant Park.

They then receive a tip on Lee Gwang-min, a wanted killer who turns out to be the dead homeless man. At his hideout, they find nothing significant. Gun-su realizes that the hideout is close to the spot on the road where Lee died. The scene is being investigated by a police officer, who informs his colleagues of a hit-and-run incident where the perpetrator left with the victim's body. Noticing a traffic camera on the road, Chief tasks Detective Choi Sang-ho to look through the footage. Choi spots the car responsible for the hit-and-run (Gun-su's), but is only able to make out its brand and the first number on the plate.

At his office, Gun-su receives calls from an unknown man. He claims to see Gun-su hitting the man and hiding the body in Mt. Yangja (where his mother is buried). Outside, he sees the man and chases after him, but is unable to catch him. Realizing the man doesn't know where the body is buried, Gun-su ignores subsequent calls. The man then reveals himself as Lieutenant Park Chang-min, who earlier helped clear Gun-su's department of bribery charges. In the bathroom, Gun-su tries to intimidate Park, but Park easily overpowers him, demands Lee's body handed over, and leaves.

Gun-su digs up Lee and sees gunshot wounds on his body. He takes Lee's cellphone and charges it. Immediately, he receives a phone call revealing that Park and Lee has a connection. He tracks down and interrogates the caller. The man reveals that when Park was in vice squad, he stole the confiscated drugs and made a huge profit from it. Park kept the money and the drugs in a private safe deposit vault. Lee stole the vault key and escaped. Gun-su drives back to Mt. Yangja, searches Lee's body and finds the key. He is then arrested by Choi, who saw Gun-su's license plate on a traffic ticket and realized he killed Lee.

At a vacant dock, Gun-su begins telling Choi of Park's involvement, but Park calls him and instructs him to get out of Choi's car. He does so, and a heavy container is dropped on the car, killing Choi. Park tells Gun-su that he is at his house, and demands the body delivered to him in the morning. Gun-su rushes home to find his family safe. Determined to kill Park, he makes a reservation at a hotel and urges his family to go. He goes to the station's armory to request live rounds for his gun, and steals the powerful Improvised_explosive_device confiscated earlier. He stuffs the explosive in Lee's body.

In the morning, Gun-su delivers the body to Park and activates the IED, which throws Park's car into a lake nearby. He waits on the bank, but Park doesn't resurface. Gun-su goes back home and prepares to turn himself in when Park shows up, bleeding but alive. Park beats up Gun-su, who desperately tries to retrieve his gun from a fallen bookshelf. After a grueling fight, Park spots the gun as well and they both try to grab it, unaware that the trigger is stuck on a nail. When Park pulls at the gun barrel, it goes off, killing him.

At the station, Gun-su's superiors discuss the matter and eventually decide to sweep it under the rug to protect their reputations. Gun-su resigns from his job. At the cemetery, a monument is built at his mother's grave. Gun-su considers opening a toast shop, an idea his sister earlier proposed. When they leave, he sees the key to Park's deposit vault which he dropped when Choi arrested him. He finds the vault, and the movie ends with him staring at the huge stacks of money and drugs in it.

Cast

Reception

The film debuted to stellar reviews at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival in the Director's Fortnight sidebar, where it was praised by critics as a well-made thriller with unrelenting suspense and flashes of humor. Upon its release in South Korea on May 29, 2014, at first it didn't attract much attention or hype, with a lackluster 80,000 ticket sales on its opening day.[10] But through strong word of mouth from viewers, A Hard Day began an unexpectedly popular run at the box office, placing second place for four weeks behind Hollywood blockbusters X-Men: Days of Future Past and Edge of Tomorrow. It also outperformed other local noir thrillers with bigger stars, such as Man on High Heels and No Tears for the Dead. A Hard Day quickly reached its break-even point, garnering 1.6 million admissions 11 days after its release, and by its sixth week had drawn 3.08 million admissions.[11][12][13][14][15] At the end of its run, A Hard Day had grossed US$24,171,936 from 3,450,305 tickets sold.[16]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Recipient Result
2014
23rd Buil Film Awards[17]
 Best Actor Lee Sun-kyun Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Cho Jin-woong Nominated
Best New Director Kim Seong-hun Nominated
Best Screenplay Kim Seong-hun Nominated
34th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards
Critics' Top 10 A Hard Day Won
51st Grand Bell Awards[18][19]
 Best Film A Hard Day Nominated
Best Director Kim Seong-hun Won
Best Supporting Actor Cho Jin-woong Nominated
Best Screenplay Kim Seong-hun Nominated
Best Cinematography Kim Tae-seong Won
Best Editing Kim Chang-ju Nominated
Best Lighting Kim Gyeong-seok Won
15th Busan Film Critics Awards
 Best Screenplay Kim Seong-hun Won
15th Women in Film Korea Awards
 Technical Award Oh So-ra
(sound designer) 		Won
1st Korean Film Producers Association Awards
 Best Film A Hard Day Won
Best Director Kim Seong-hun Won
Best Editing Kim Chang-ju Won
35th Blue Dragon Film Awards[20][21]
 Best Film A Hard Day Nominated
Best Director Kim Seong-hun Nominated
Best Actor Lee Sun-kyun Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Cho Jin-woong Won
Best Screenplay Kim Seong-hun Won
Best Cinematography Kim Tae-seong Nominated
Best Editing Kim Chang-ju Won
Best Lighting Kim Gyeong-seok Nominated
2015
6th KOFRA Film Awards[22]
Best Director Kim Seong-hun Won
10th Max Movie Awards
Best Supporting Actor Cho Jin-woong Won
20th Chunsa Film Art Awards[23]
 Best Director (Grand Prix) Kim Seong-hun Won
Best Actor Lee Sun-kyun Nominated
Best Screenplay Kim Seong-hun Nominated
Technical Award Nominated
9th Asian Film Awards[24]
 Best Supporting Actor Cho Jin-woong Nominated
Best Screenwriter Kim Seong-hun Nominated
Best Editor Kim Chang-ju Nominated
51st Baeksang Arts Awards[25][26]
 Best Film A Hard Day Nominated
Best Director Kim Seong-hun Won
Best Actor Lee Sun-kyun Won
Cho Jin-woong Won
Best Screenplay Kim Seong-hun Nominated

References

  1. ↑ "Second Time Lucky for Obscure Korean Film Director". The Chosun Ilbo. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
  2. ↑ Im, Ju-ri (7 June 2014). "A Hard Day director's last chance for success". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  3. ↑ Heskins, Andrew (16 October 2014). "Kim Seong-hun interview: "Maybe we should change it to Hard Days"". Eastern Kicks. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  4. ↑ Baldock, Luke Ryan (2 November 2014). "LKFF 2014: THN Interviews Kim Seong Hun Concerning A Hard Day". The Hollywood News. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  5. ↑ Kim, Hee-eun (18 April 2014). "Two hot actors to star in new thriller". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
  6. ↑ Chang, Justin (22 April 2014). "Cannes: Whiplash, Cold in July Set to Screen at Directors' Fortnight". Variety. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
  7. ↑ Cremin, Stephen (22 April 2014). "Directors' Fortnight adds two Asian features". Film Business Asia. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
  8. ↑ Conran, Pierce (23 April 2014). "Director's Fortnight to Have A HARD DAY". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
  9. ↑ Tae, Sang-joon (10 June 2014). "A HARD DAY Sells to 30+ Countries". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
  10. ↑ "Hard Day Steadily Draws Viewers". The Chosun Ilbo. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  11. ↑ Ha, Sung-tae (16 June 2014). "Box Office: May 29 - June 11, 2014". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  12. ↑ Baek, Byung-yeul (22 June 2014). "A Hard Day defies predictions at the box office". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  13. ↑ Conran, Pierce (30 June 2014). "Box Office: June 12 – 25, 2014". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  14. ↑ "A Hard Day racks up ticket sales, Lee Seon-kyun reflects on its success". Dramabeans. 22 June 2014. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  15. ↑ Frater, Patrick (7 July 2014). "Transformers 4 Holds on to Korean Box Office Lead". Variety. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  16. ↑ "A Hard Day (2014)". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  17. ↑ Kim, June (6 October 2014). "SHIM Eun-kyung, SONG Kang-ho, HONG Sangsoo and ROARING CURRENTS Win at 23rd Buil Film Awards". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-10-09.
  18. ↑ Kim, June (12 November 2014). "The 51st Daejong Film Awards Nominations Announced". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-11-12.
  19. ↑ Conran, Pierce (24 November 2014). "ROARING CURRENTS Tops 51st Daejong Film Awards". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-11-25.
  20. ↑ Kim, June (18 December 2014). "35th Blue Dragon Awards Names THE ATTORNEY Best Film". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
  21. ↑ Ma, Kevin (18 December 2014). "Attorney wins four at Blue Dragon Awards". Film Business Asia. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
  22. ↑ "Han Gong-ju picked as best film of 2014 by Korean film reporters". The Korea Herald. 16 January 2015. Retrieved 2015-01-27.
  23. ↑ Ma, Kevin (9 March 2015). "Hard Day leads Chunsa Film Art nominations". Film Business Asia. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
  24. ↑ Yoon, Ina (4 March 2015). "Korean Films and Artists Nominated for the Asian Film Awards". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
  25. ↑ Lee, Hoo-nam; Kim, Hyung-eun (28 May 2015). "Baeksang honors new, veteran stars". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  26. ↑ Conran, Pierce (27 May 2015). "CHOI Min-sik and REVIVRE Triumph at 51st Paeksang Arts Awards". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2015-05-28.

External links

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