| Obaltan | |
|---|---|
Theatrical poster to Obaltan (1961) |
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| Hangul | 오발탄 |
| Hanja | 誤發彈 |
| RR | Obaltan |
| MR | Obalt‘an |
| Directed by | Yu Hyun-mok |
| Produced by | Kim Seong-chun |
| Written by | Lee Beom-seon |
| Starring | Choi Mu-ryong Kim Jin Kyu Moon Jeong-suk |
| Cinematography | Kim Hak-seong |
| Editing by | Kim Hui-su |
| Distributed by | Cinema Epoch |
| Release date(s) | April 13, 1960 |
| Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean |
Obaltan (Korean: 오발탄), also known as The Aimless Bullet and Stray Bullet, is a 1960 Korean film directed by Yu Hyun-mok. The plot is based on the same titled short novel written by Yi Beomseon. It has often been called the best Korean movie ever made.[1]
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The films depicts a man, who lives a hard life together with his brother, his wife and his mentally ill mother. The film shows their poor lives realistically. The last, climactic part of the film portrays the impulsive crime that results from these circumstances.
The government banned Obaltan because of its unremittingly downbeat depiction of life in post-armistice South Korea. An American consultant to the Korean National Film Production Center saw the film and persuaded the government to release it in Seoul so that it might qualify for entry in the San Francisco International Film Festival. Director Yu Hyun-mok attended the film's premier in San Francisco in November 1963. Variety called Obaltan a "remarkable film", and noted that its "[b]rilliantly detailed camera work is matched by probing sympathy and rich characterizations."[2]
The most-cited quote from the film, mentioned in the contemporary Variety review and in later texts on Korean cinema, is "Let's get outta here! Let's get outta here!"[3]
In December 2002 Obaltan was released on Region 0 DVD in South Korea with English subtitles,[4] but as of November 2007 is currently out of print.[5] Gregory Hatanaka's Cinema Epoch released the film on Region 1 DVD on March 13, 2008.[6]