[Korean Film News] Paradise Murdered [극락도 살인사건] (2007)

The time: 1986. The place: a remote island off the southwest coast of Korea. The plot: when the inhabitants of Geukrak Island begin to disappear, the villagers decide to carry out an investigation of their own, led by Che Wu-song, a head doctor at a public health center. The story of Kim Han-Min's debut feature, the thriller/comedy Paradise Murdered [극락도 살인사건], might at first appear to resemble that of Memories of Murder (2003): both films involve an elusive serial killer, both take place in the 1980s and the prime suspect in each is played by none other than Park Hae-il, the foul-mouthed out-of-work college graduate in The Host (2006). But while Bong Joon-ho's movie was based on actual events, Kim's is a work of fiction, and in the former the case is never resolved, while at the end of Paradise Murdered, the criminal's identity is revealed. The boyish-faced Park has shown himself to be a versatile actor, capable of portraying a sleazy high school teacher in Rules of Dating (2005), a gentle postman in My Mother, the Mermaid (2004) and a cold-hearted murder suspect in Memories of Murder. Paradise Murdered will screen in local theatres on April 12th.

Director: Kim Han-Min [김한민]
Cast: Park Hae-Il [박해일], Seong Ji-Ru [성지루], Park Sol-Mi [박솔미], Lee Dae-Yeon [이대연], Park Won-Sang [박원상], Choi Ju-Bong [최주봉], Kim In-Mun [김인문]

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[Source: koreanfilm.org, The Korea Times, Donga Ilbo]