Dohee - Weglaufen kann jeder

This is a movie about a female police chief who comes across a young girl with an abusive home life. She does what she can to help this girl. For the most part, with the exception of a few dramatic scenes and situations, that is the movie.

The movie wasn't bad it was just really slow in my opinion. I would have liked the young girl's backstory to have had a bit more depth, a relationship could have been better understood but aside from that the story was ok. It was well acted and well shot.

It isn't a bad drama and I thought it ended well. Not a bad watch.

Good to be back to a Korean movie and this time I'm happy that I picked the right one. A small budget movie produced by the Korean film board and many actors from the project did for the free. A massive victory for a debutante director July Jung after receiving a standing ovation from the audience at Cannes and the positive response from the critics, media and movie buffs around the world. From this you would know that you must not miss the film and I would say the same, but I also apprise you that it ain't masterpiece.

The story follows the police officer Lee Young-nam, who is moving into a quiet small coastal town station to take a charge after the allegation of drinking problem and other personal scandal in the capital city. Her task is to lay low for a while until everything calms down to move back. She succeeds only until a girl knocks her door, metaphorically as what the title say. An unexpected relationship develops, as well seems another trouble is on the approach. Whatever happen from there is the story, especially the second half.

The good thing is this film talk about the root cause of the domestic violence. Like alcohol is one of the major concerns for those. Small intake is okay, but the excessive and addiction is the worry. No matter its the good people or bad according to how they live and what they do, but the point remain same. Here in this story as well all the characters were associated with alcoholism, but differentiated with purpose of life they are in and responsibility. The child abuse, the family who treat their own child badly was the goal to expose for us. And what follows after that was beyond a proper solution. The point it ended and what might happen after that is still a questionable.

"Alcohol is the problem."

The girl was Kim Sae-ron from 'The Man from Nowhere' fame. She's has grown up, a teenager. In the next movie probably would play a heroine. She was very good in the role. The girl with the mentality of when everybody sided her in the society except one who begin to care for her all the sudden, that might unleash the inner evil for having a support and to relocate, but the doubt is she's capable? From the girl's perspective, all are fair and square, but what society and law's take is another arguable angle. So you might know by now, the movie is not about any section of good versus bad people, but the reality of our world/civilization/society and a strategy to stay input/alive in the life between the obstacles we face.

Slow narration, particularly in the first half. Took time to evolve the characters, but still confines the earlier events of each one of them that gave a strong next half. Nobody can know where the story is gonna go, the possibilities are several. I was stunned for the way it ended, especially the last 15 minutes were not typical, but tricky. Even for a real life, this kind of stuffs scares hell out of being an adult for caught between being a villain, but not an (serious/life threatening) offender. I said it because still in many third world countries that is how a child brought up and nobody care including government/law or the neighbours. Its no matter small mischievous thing or not intended to, or you did it. What I'm saying is the example of movies like 'Jagten' and 'In the House'. Anyway, a nice movie with the talented performers. Worth a watch and to suggest those we know.

8/10

Very sad film depicting the brutalization of a helpless child. She desperately latches on to a new authority figure in town a policewoman (Played by the great Doona Bae) to escape her personal hell.

Sae Ron Kim gives an outstanding performance as the troubled girl. So sad because we know this kind of thing goes on all over the world. This is just a Korean version, but could have taken place anywhere.

Doona Bae won the best actress award in the "Asian Film Awards" for her performance, so if you're a fan of hers, it is a solid performance.

There were some minor sub plots, that really did not need to be in the movie, but that is only a minor criticism. I would recommend the film, but not for the faint of heart.

The movie is about the policewoman who is dislocated to the small S.Korean town/village after her personal problems (that caused scandal in her professional life) in Seoul.

The town, she settles in, is small; Everybody knows everyone. From the first look, the place looks peaceful with friendly, provincial locals. As she spends some time there, she spots disturbing issues that locals have not problem with. The town is so corrupt and blindsided that even the local police fails to act against it. One of such issues is with the underage girl who is under constant physical and mental abuse from the member of her own family.

So the new cop faces a challenge: do something against the crime, or not? What if doing the right means harming her image and personal life? The story further focuses on her decisions mixed with her personal struggles and problems with past relationships.

The story has plot twists and despite the slow sleep and somewhat mellow vibe, never bore you.

I gave the movie 7/10 and would call it a decent movie unlike my fellow countryman whose review I read about this movie :)

This film lost its way when it addressed and highlighted the police chief's sexual orientation. Completely unnecessary when the focus of the plot, from the beginning, was a dysfunctional family, domestic violence, abuse, physical aggression inside and outside the home, neglect and abandonment of a child.

What was the writer's purpose in taking the attention away from what really mattered in the story, to focus on the intimate life of the only person who noticed, welcomed, cared and saved the girl?

I gave this film a low score precisely for that reason. It should have been a great story, if the writer hadn't made such a stupid mistake, which simply ruined the production.