A Taxi Driver (2017)
Directed by Jang Hoon
Starring: Song Kang-Ho, Thomas Kretschmann
Genre: Historical Drama
Country: South Korea
Let’s kick it with a great movie from South Korea. Based on a true story in South Korea about a riot in Gwang-Ju(?) I can’t spell it right. Either way, don’t mistake it by Scorsese’s masterpiece by the same name (minus the A).
OK, here we go. Start with the story, and by the way spoiler alert.
A taxi driver, let’s call him Mr. Kim (Song Kang-Ho) is tempted by a bunch of money offered by a foreign reporter named Peter (Thomas Kretschmann) to take him to a dangerous zone — place of a riot — in Korea, more specifically Gwangju. Maybe Mr. Kim sounded a little bad, right? Yes at first! But not later, as he found his way of fighting, something only he can do, as a messenger of a messenger. He eventually learn it in the way, of how sacrifices must be made for a freedom.
The best thing about this movie is, yep, you got it right. It’s the bromance!!
How Peter and Mr. Kim always hated each other at first, because of their misunderstanding of each other. Yeah, Korean and English is not a good match. But, later near the end of the movie, they eventually learn to understand each other. How? From heart to heart.
It may sound cheesy but not all movie can show this kind of bromance. It’s an even harder thing to create than a romance story. Why? Because you must show their chemistry while not their romantic love towards each other, so it’s a very good bromance movie and how it is delivered is beautiful.
So many scene in this movie is so powerful. It creates a vision of its own. How the rioter is being shot and tortured, how they trust each other for freedom, and the hospital scene, it’s beyond words. Director Jang Hoo succeeds in making this movie powerful and inspiring. And still my favorite is the taxi decoy scene.
Although the background story of Mr. Kim in this movie is fictionalized, but it brings a deeper feels in it. It tells people that Mr. Kim is a human just like all of us.
History is being told by the winners.
It is ironic. Just how much of it is true, and how the citizen of the Korea believe what was happening from the local TV news where they antagonized the rioters and victimized the government. The scariest thing is, it’s not only happening in Korea, but all over the world of how mass media is a very effective medium for propaganda, and how hard it is to reveal the truth beneath it.
A Taxi Driver is a movie about the bitter truth and darkness of a government, that needs to be told.
