Program Note
When his fiancée is brutally murdered and dismembered, NIS agent Kim Soo-hyun (Lee Byung Hun) sets out to track down the killer, serial murderer Jang Kyung-chul (Choi Min Sik). Rather than capture him outright, Soo-hyun repeatedly wounds and releases him, unleashing a cycle of retribution that grows increasingly brutal. As his revenge escalates, Soo-hyun begins to resemble the very monster he is hunting. When a fellow agent urges him to stop, Soo-hyun responds, “You know what it feels like? Like there’s a giant boulder sitting on my chest.” I Saw the Devil resists the lure of satisfying revenge, instead drawing the viewer deep into Soo-hyun’s grief and rage through action. The film’s graphic violence borders on horror, yet what lingers is sorrow. Written by Park Hoon-jung before his directorial debut(New World, 2013), the film was brought to life at the suggestion of Choi Min Sik. (HUH Namwoong)