Bedevilled (2010 film)

Bedevilled (Korean: 김복남 살인사건의 전말; Hanja: 金福南 殺人事件의 顚末; RR: Kim Bok-nam Salinsageonui Jeonmal; lit. "The Whole Story of the Kim Bok-nam Murder Case") is a 2010 South Korean horror 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.

Bedevilled
Theatrical poster
Hangul
Hanja
Revised RomanizationKim Bok-nam salinsageonui jeonmal
McCune–ReischauerKim Pok-nam sarinsakŏnŭi jŏnmal
Directed byJang Cheol-soo
Written byChoi Kwang-young
Produced byPark Kyu-young
StarringSeo Young-hee
Ji Sung-won
CinematographyKim Gi-tae
Edited byKim Mi-joo
Music byKim Tae-seong
Distributed bySponge ENT
Release dates
  • May 2010 (2010-05) (Cannes)
  • September 2, 2010 (2010-09-02) (South Korea)
Running time
115 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
BudgetUS$636,363
Box officeUS$1.1 million[1]

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.[2] The film was a runaway hit in Korea, with the box-office returns far exceeding its ₩700 million (US$636,363) budget.[3]

Plot

Hae-won works in a Seoul bank. A stern, tense woman, her work status and hyper competitive mentality make her apathetic to the plight of other people. After witnessing violence against a woman resulting in the death of the victim, she refuses to identify the culprit because it's not her problem, even after the offender tries to sexually harass her. In the office, she is accidentally locked in the toilet by the janitor and assumes it's one of her co-workers pranking her. She slaps her co-worker in public, realizing she is wrong right after. These incidents cause her boss to fire her. Hae-won takes up a friend's offer to take a vacation in Mudo, a desolate and socially-backward Southern island where she spent her childhood.

At the island, she is warmly welcomed by Bok-nam, with whom she had a close friendship when they were teenagers, but whose constant letters she's since ignored. Life on the undeveloped 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 women. Bok-nam's love is reserved for her young daughter Yeon-hee, with whom she tries to escape for a better life. Man-jong is secretly making Yeon-hee into a sexual object for his own sick pleasure much to Bok-nam's rage. Her daughter is accidentally killed after she tries to defend her mother against Man-Jong. Bok-nam cries and reveals 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 Hae-won was teaching Bok-nam how to play a tune on her recorder when four local boys on the island began harassing them. Hae-won fled and witnessed the boys assault the knocked-out Bok-nam.

The locals lie to police when questioned about the death of Yeon-hee and Hae-won does not support Bok-nam. Bok-nam finally snaps and kills anyone she finds, armed with a sickle. After murdering three mean old women, she chases her mother-in-law to the cliff. Due to her bad eyesight, she miscalculates the distance between her and Bok-nam causing her swing her sickle blindly and until the blade falls out of the handle. As she sees the boat carrying Man-Jong and his brother come back, the old woman boasts that she can swim to the boat to call for help and try to jump into the sea but her bad eyesight causes her to miscalculate the distance between rock and the body of water, resulting her lands hard on the rock below, killing her. Bok-nam then decapitates her brother-in-law. Man-jong decides to kill Bok-nam and make it looked like he kills her in self-defense, causing Hae-won to snap out of her apathy and threaten to call the police. Man-jong then madly states that he can either kill Hae-won or make him his new wife. Bok-nam then tries to stimulate his lust by licking his knife causing him to drop his guard down. As Man-jong drops his guard, Bok-nam bites his finger brutally, causing Man-jong to punch her aside and go to get his axe to kill her. Bok-nam grabs hold the knife and runs the knife through his stomach, fatally wounding him. As the maddened man tries to cling to his life, Bok-nam brutally finishes off Man-jong by slashing him to dead. She then smears his corpse with bean paste to mock his remark of putting bean paste to cure the bruises caused by his abuses. Terrified, Hae-won runs to the boat to escape but Bok-nam catches up and tries to drown the boat driver for letting her husband keep abusing her. As Hae-won tries to turn the boat, the boat driver tries to cling to the boat but accidentally get caught in the propeller and is torn to shred, leaving Hae-won to escape to the mainland.

Bok-nam travels to Seoul with the recorder from their childhood and tries to kill Hae-won in police custody because she refused to help her or her daughter. It is revealed that Hae-won did witness Yeon-hee's murder and had lied to the investigator about being asleep. A policeman shoots Bok-nam multiple times. Bok-nam kills him with a sledgehammer. Hae-won kills Bok-nam with the broken recorder; she dies in Hae-won's lap. On the island, all the murdered victims have been buried and cremated by Bok-nam, leaving the island void of human life.

Traumatized and guilt-ridden, Hae-won realizes the repercussion of her apathy and points out the culprits of the sexual assault she'd witnessed to the police. She takes Bok-nam's letters out of the trashcan and reads them, regretting not helping Bok-nam when she had the chance.[4][5][6][7]

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[8][9]

  • Best of Puchon
  • Best Actress – Seo Young-hee
  • Fujifilm Eterna Award

2010 Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival[10]

  • Butterfly Award

2010 Fantastic Fest[11]

  • Audience Award
  • Best Actress AMD & Dell "Next Wave" Spotlight Competition – Seo Young-hee

2010 AFI Fest[12]

  • New Auteurs

2010 Grand Bell Awards[13]

2010 Korean Association of Film Critics Awards

2010 Korean Film Awards[14]

2010 Director's Cut Awards

2011 KOFRA Film Awards (Korea Film Reporters Association)

2011 Gerardmer International Fantastic Film Festival

  • Grand Prix

2011 Fantasporto Oporto International Film Festival[15][16]

2011 Imagine: Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival[17]

  • Black Tulip (Grand Jury Prize)

2011 Golden Cinematography Awards

  • Best Film
  • Best New Actress – Ji Sung-won
  • Bronze Medal Cinematography – Kim Gi-tae

References
  1. "Box office by Country: Bedevilled". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  2. Huh, Nam-woong (6 October 2010). "JANG Cheol-su, the director of Bedevilled". Korean Cinema Today. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  3. Ki, Sun-min (1 October 2010). "Bedevilled snaps up two festival awards". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 2012-11-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. Kim, Kyu Hyun. "Bedevilled". Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
  5. Elley, Derek (15 May 2010). "Bedevilled". Film Business Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  6. Von Hoeij, Boyd (14 May 2010). "Bedevilled". Variety. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  7. "Grotesque, disturbing revenge tale from savage isle". Korea JoongAng Daily. 27 August 2010. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 2012-11-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. "14th PiFan Awards". PiFan.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  9. Kim, Jessica (28 July 2010). "PiFan wraps up ride of Love, Fantasy and Adventure". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  10. D'Sa, Nigel (27 August 2010). "The 4th CinDi Wraps up". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  11. "Fantastic Fest 2010 Announces the Fantastic Fest Awards". Fantastic Fest. 27 September 2010. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  12. "Audience and Jury Award-winning Films" (PDF). AFI Fest. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  13. Lee, Hyo-won (31 October 2010). "Poetry sweeps 47th Daejong Film Awards". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  14. Kim, Jessica (19 November 2010). "The Man From Nowhere sweeps Korea Film Awards". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-24.
  15. "Fantasporto Awards 2011". Fantasporto. 3 May 2011. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  16. "Korean films win a series of awards at the Fantasporto Film Festival". Korean Film Biz Zone. 8 March 2011. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  17. "And the winners are..." 27th Imagine Film Festival. 28 April 2011. Archived from the original on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
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