MISSING YOU

Hee-joo usually wakes up with the delicious smells of the breakfast
prepared by her dad, an inspector with the Seoul police. But not
this morning. The seven-year old girl sees before her eyes how her
father bleeds to death on the floor. And that’s the work of Ki-bum, a
particularly vicious serial killer. In the end, the police manage to arrest
him. They know he has at least committed seven murders, but they
have no proof. The court can only condemn him for the murder on
Hee-joo’s dad and sends him to jail for 15 years. Now Ki-bum has
paid his debt to society and he’s free again. The police follow his every
move, ready to arrest him for the smallest mistake. But that’s the least
of his worries. Hee-joo has grown up to become a determined young
woman and she’s capable of anything to make him pay.
We can add another name to the growing circle of talented Korean
genre directors. Hong-jin Mo hits us hard in the guts with Missing
You, a falsely romantic and cynically cruel title for a film that inscribes
itself in the great tradition of vengeance movies such as Old Boy and
I Saw the Devil, which have largely made the well deserved reputation
of Korean cinema. Missing You also confirms the talent of actress
Eun-kyung Shim, who has left behind lightweight comedies for genre
gems such as Seoul Station and Train to Busan.