The Unjust

The Unjust
Hangul	부당거래
Hanja	不當去來
Revised Romanization	Budang georae
McCune–Reischauer	Pudang kŏrae
Directed by	Ryoo Seung-wan
Produced by	Koo Bon-han Kim Yun-ho Ryoo Seung-wan Kang Hye-jung Han Jae-duk
Written by	Park Hoon-jung
Starring	Hwang Jung-min Ryoo Seung-bum Yoo Hae-jin
Music by	Jo Yeong-wook
Cinematography	Jung Jung-hoon
Editing by	Kim Sang-bum Kim Jae-beom
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release dates	October 28, 2010 (2010-10-28)
Running time	119 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean
Box office	US$18,223,928[1]

The Unjust (Hangul: 부당거래; RR: Budanggeorae; lit. "Bad deal" or "Unfair trade") is a 2010 South Korean crime film by Ryoo Seung-wan.^[2][3][4] It is a dark and bitter denunciation of corruption in the South Korean justice system.^[5][6]

It was a critical and commercial success, with 2.7 million admissions at the box office and winning several awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay at the 2011 Blue Dragon Film Awards.^{[7][8][9][10]}

This is director Ryoo Seung-wan's fifth collaboration with his younger brother, actor Ryoo Seung-bum.^[11] Lead actors Hwang Jung-min and Ryoo Seung-bum previously worked together in Bloody Tie (2006).^[12]

Plot

After the rape and murder of five elementary schoolgirls, the police have still failed to apprehend the serial killer. After one suspect, Yu Min-cheol (Kim Seung-hun), is shot dead — but with no conclusive proof he was guilty — the country's president becomes involved and adds to the pressure on the police to solve the case. Choi Cheol-gi (Hwang Jung-min), a brilliant but sidelined detective at the Metropolitan Investigation Services who has just brought down corrupt property developer Kim Yang-su (Jo Yeong-jin), is suddenly taken off the case and Kim, thanks to his powerful connections, is released and his case closed. Choi is assigned instead to the serial murders and finally promised a promotion if he can get the police force off the hook by bringing the case to a satisfying conclusion. Choi re-examines the whole case and, with the help of Kim's opportunistic rival, Jang Seok-gu (Yoo Hae-jin), decides to stitch up one of the other suspects as the killer. He chooses Lee Dong-seok (Woo Don-gi), a school bus driver with a retarded wife (Lee Mi-do) and young daughter (Park Ha-yeong) who has a past criminal record that includes child molestation. However, Choi and his team are secretly monitored by Joo Yang (Ryoo Seung-bum), a Seoul District public prosecutor in the pocket of Kim, who is looking for payback on Choi for bringing him down and losing a construction project to Jang. One evening, however, Kim is stabbed to death while playing golf with Joo, and Joo receives embarrassing photos of himself and Kim together. Suspecting that Choi has fitted up Lee in the serial-murder case, Joo makes his suspicions known to his superiors but cannot present any hard evidence. After Joo is again made to look stupid when Lee mysteriously hangs himself in his holding cell, he launches a blitzkrieg investigation into Choi's whole career and family, and a deadly war breaks out between them, with Jang playing both sides off against each other.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]}

Cast

Film festivals

The Unjust has screened at numerous film festivals around the world, including the Panorama section of the 61st Berlin International Film Festival,^[21] the Hong Kong International Film Festival,^[22] the Shanghai International Film Festival,^[23] the New York Asian Film Festival,^[24] the Fantasia Festival,^[25] the Hawaii International Film Festival,^[26] the Vladivostok International Film Festival - Pacific Meridian,^[27] the Sitges Film Festival,^[28] the London Korean Film Festival,^[29] and the Udine Far East Film Festival.^[30]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Official website (Korean)
• The Unjust at Naver (Korean)
• The Unjust at CJ Entertainment
• The Unjust at the Korean Movie Database
• The Unjust at the Internet Movie Database
• The Unjust at HanCinema