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Bedevilled (2010 film)
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
|name = Bedevilled
|image = BedevilledPoster.jpg
|caption = Theatrical poster
| native_name =
|director = Jang Cheol-soo
|producer = Park Kyu-young
|writer = Choi Kwang-young
|starring = Seo Young-hee
Ji Sung-won
|music = Kim Tae-seong
|cinematography = Kim Gi-tae
|editing = Kim Mi-joo
|distributor = Sponge ENT
|released =
|runtime = 115 minutes
|country = South Korea
|language = Korean
|budget =
|gross = [https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/intl/?page=&id=_fBEDEVILLED01 "Box office by Country: 'Bedevilled'"]. 'Box Office Mojo'. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
}}
'Bedevilled' (; lit. "The Whole Story of the Kim Bok-nam Murder Case") is a 2010 South Korean thriller film starring Seo Young-hee and Ji Sung-won. The film premiered as an official selection of International Critics' Week at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
It is the feature directorial debut of Jang Cheol-soo, who worked as an assistant director on the Kim Ki-duk films 'Samaritan Girl' and 'Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring'. The film was a runaway hit in Korea, with the box-office returns far exceeding its budget.
Plot
Hae-won is a middle-rank officer working in a Seoul bank. A stern, tense, single woman, she is brought down by work-related status and her hypercompetitive mentality to the point of being completely apathetic to the plight of other people. In one occasion, she yells and vehemently refuses a loan to an utterly desperate old lady who cries to beg her to give her the loan for her very survival. After witnessing a violence against a woman in the street resulting in the death of the victim, she apathetically refuses to identify the culprit because it is not her problem, even the woman's father begs her to bring the culprits to justice. Even after offender tries to sexually harass her, she still apathetically refuses to notify the police. Back in the office, she is accidentally locked in the toilet by the janitor and assumes one of her co-workers locks her in as prank. After climbing out of the toilet, she slaps the co-worker in public but only realizing that she is wrong after noticing the sandals worn by the janitor. This incident and the incident with the old lady customer causes her boss to fire her as she tarnishes the public image of the bank. Hae-won takes an offer of a long-forgotten friend to take a vacation in Mudo, a desolate and socially backward Southern island where she spent her childhood.
Arriving at the island, she is warmly welcomed by Bok-nam, with whom she had a close friendship when both were in their teens, but whose constant letters she's since ignored. Life on the undeveloped, socially regressive island is hard, and Bok-nam is treated as little more than a slave by her abusive husband Man-jong, his lustful brother, and the local mean old women. All of Bok-nam's love is reserved for her young daughter Yeon-hee, with whom she tries to escape for a better life. It is also revealed that Man-jong is secretly making Yeon-hee into sexual object for his own sick pleasure much to Bok-man's rage. The attempt is foiled by Man-jong and the villagers, and her daughter is accidentally killed in the struggle after she tries to defend her mother when Man-Jong pushes Yeon-hee headfirst into a nearby rock. Bok-nam hysterically cries for the death of her daughter and her husband unsympathetically suggests treating Yeon-hee's wound with bean paste (a common suggestion by Man-Jong for treating wounds he inflicts on Bok-nam) only for Bok-nam to reveal that Yeon-Hee may not be his daughter as Bok-nam was raped by many men on the island before. In a flashback, it's revealed that Bok-nam and Hae-won were close friends and Hae-won was teaching Bok-nam how to play a tune on her Recorder (musical instrument) when four local boys on the island began harassing them. Hae-won got up and ran away and from her hiding place, she witnessed the boys begin to assault the knocked-out Bok-nam. Back to present time, a mainland investigation is lied to by the locals when questioned about the death of Yeon-hee and Hae-won does not support Bok-nam's case, claiming to have been asleep during these events. Even after Yeon-Hee's death, Bok-nam is still being treated like trash, which causes her to finally snap and vengefully kill anyone she can get her hands on, armed with a sickle but she spares a senile and mental disable old man. After brutally murdering three mean old women, she chases her mother-in-law to side of the cliff and the old woman tries to defend herself with her sickle but the blade of her sickle falls off the handle. Helpless, the old woman tries to jump into the sea below and swim to an approaching boat for help but in her haste, she miscalculates her jump and lands hard on the rock below, killing her. Bok-nam then approaches the brother-in-law who immediately starts molesting her, so she quickly decapitates him. As Man-jong arrives on the boat, Bok-nam attacks him and he subdues and begins beating her. Man-jong yells at Bok-nam for the killings but Bok-nam defies him and says that she killed his brother and all the old women in revenge. Man-jong decides to kill her, causing Hae-won to snap out of her apathy and threaten to call the police if he kills Bok-nam only to be slapped aside by Man-Jong. Man-jong threatens Bok-nam with a knife, but Bok-nam pretends to sexually pleasure Man-jong by sucking on his finger only to suddenly bite it off. Enraged, Man-jong drops the knife and tries to axe her but Bok-nam grabs the knife with her mouth and runs it through her husband's stomach, fatally wounding him. Dying, he tries to pull the knife but Bok-nam jumps in and finishes him off with a sickle. She then smears her husband's corpse with bean paste to mock his words when he suggested using bean paste to revive Yeon-Hee. Terrified, Hae-won runs to the boat alongside the boat driver to escape but Bok-nam catches up to them and drowns the boat driver in cold blood for letting her husband keep abusing her, leaving Hae-won to escape in the mainland. Hae-won is apprehended by police after her boat drifts to the harbor of Seoul.
A few days later, Bok-nam travels to Seoul with the recorder from their childhood (broken in half and taped up in attempt at repair) and tries to kill Hae-won in the police custody, because she refused to help her or her daughter escape. It is revealed that Hae-won did indeed witness Yeon-hee's murder while standing on a nearby hill and had lied to the investigator about being asleep. During the fight, a policeman Bok-nam had previously wounded regains consciousness and shoots Bok-nam multiple times in the back. Bok-nam retaliate by finally killing him with a sledgehammer. Hae-won grabs half of the recorder which was broken on the floor and ends Bok-nam's life by stabbing her with the sharp end of the recorder half. Bok-nam dies in Hae-won lap reminiscing the good old days when they were children on the island. Back on the island, all the murdered people of the island have been buried and cremated by Bok-nam and the senile old man dies from a heart attack soon after, leaving the island void of human life.
Traumatized and guilt-ridden, Hae-won realizes the repercussion of her apathy and comes to the police and points out the culprits of the previous sexual assault she witnessed. The culprits attack her but she stares at him in defiance and grabs a pen ready to stab him only for the police to intervene and arrest the culprits. Back in her apartment, Hae-won takes Bok-nam's letters out of the waste bin and reads them. She lays down the floor emotionless, regretting not helping Bok-nam when she had the chance. The final scene then shows the Mudo island which is now completely lifeless.
Cast
Main characters
* Seo Young-hee ... Kim Bok-nam* Ji Sung-won ... Hae-won
* Park Jeong-hak ... Man-jong
* Baek Su-ryun ... Dong-ho's granny
* Bae Sung-woo ... Cheol-jong
* Oh Yong ... Deuk-su
* Lee Ji-eun ... Kim Yeon-hee
* Kim Gyeong-ae ... Pa-ju's granny
* Son Yeong-sun ... Sun-yi's granny
* Lee Myeong-ja ... Gae-tong's granny
* Yu Sun-cheol ... Old man with Alzheimer's
* Jo Deok-jae ... Police officer Seo
* Chae Shi-hyeon ... Mi-ran
Supporting characters
* Tak Seong-eun ... Ji-su
* Hong Seung-jin ... Yankee's
* Hwang Min-ho ... Dodger's
* Hong Jae-seong ... Police officer Jang
* Jeong Gi-seob ... Officer Choi
* Ahn Jang-hun ... Mr. Jang
* Myeong Ro-jin ... Bank manager
* Kim Gyeong-ran ... Old lady at bank
* Jae Min ... Victim
* Park Jeong-sun ... Victim's father
* Seong Won-yong ... Supervisor
* Han Dong-hak ... Superintendent
* Yuk Sae-jin ... Mudo policeman
* Shim Seung-hyeon ... Mudo policeman
* Kim Yong ... Seoul policeman
* Yu Seung-oh ... Seoul policeman
* Na Jong-ho ... Old villager
* Hang Hae-ji ... Old villager's daughter
* Yu Ae-jin ... Young Bok-nam
* Chun Yeong-min ... Young Hae-won
* Park Jong-bin ... Young Man-jong
* Lee Da-un ... Young Cheol-jong
* Park Seung-ah ... Young Deok-su
* Kim Woo-seok ... Young Seo
* Seo Seung-hwa ... Banker
* Kim Hyeon-su ... Banker
* Lee Kang-hee ... Tearoom waitress
* Ahn Su-yeon ... Restaurant waitress
* Kim Woo-geun ... Coupon boy
Awards
2010 Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival
* Best of Puchon
* Best Actress Seo Young-hee
* Fujifilm Eterna Award
2010 Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival
* Butterfly Award
2010 Fantastic Fest
* Audience Award
* Best Actress AMD & Dell "Next Wave" Spotlight Competition Seo Young-hee
2010 AFI Fest
* New Auteurs
2010 Grand Bell Awards
* Best New Director Jang Cheol-soo
2010 Korean Association of Film Critics Awards
* Best Actress Seo Young-hee
* Best New Director Jang Cheol-soo
2010 Korean Film Awards
* Best Actress Seo Young-hee
* Best New Director Jang Cheol-soo
2010 Director's Cut Awards
* Best Actress Seo Young-hee
* Best New Director Jang Cheol-soo
2011 KOFRA Film Awards (Korea Film Reporters Association)
* Best Actress Seo Young-hee
2011 Gerardmer International Fantastic Film Festival
* Grand Prix
2011 Fantasporto Oporto International Film Festival
* Best Actress Seo Young-hee
2011 Imagine: Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival
* Black Tulip (Grand Jury Prize)
2011 Golden Cinematography Awards
* Best Film
* Best New Actress Ji Sung-won
* Bronze Medal Cinematography Kim Gi-tae
References
Buy Bedevilled (2010 film) now from Amazon
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