Bleak Night

  • 116'
  • South Korea
  • 2010
It had already been tackled in Korean Cinema: the suppressed aggression and explosive relations among older pupils in the often strict and repressive school system. But the murky complexities of power, pecking order, friendship, loyalty and physical fury have seldom been examined as closely as in Bleak Night, the feature debut by Yoon Sung-Hyun.
His film starts as a whodunit. A schoolchild at a boys' school, Ki-Tae, has died. The father, who realises all too well how absent he was in bringing up his son, wonders what happened. He has conversations with Ki-Tae’s friends, but they do not seem eager to say very much. The fragile Hee-June, who to avoid conflict has gone to another school, advises him to look for Dong-Yoon, who has known Ki-Tae from childhood. But Dong-Yoon has disappeared without trace. The film slowly reveals how the friendship broke down - and how mutual relationships were not as expected.
Bleak Night, with several of the most talented young Korean film actors playing the lead, is Yoon’s final exam film from the Korean Film Academy, KAFA. Yet in everything it’s a mature film, gripping and impressively told, with complete concentration on his subject: the microcosm of schoolchildren in which adults are suspiciously absent.

  • 116'
  • South Korea
  • 2010
Director
Yoon Sung-Hyun
Premiere
International première
Country of production
South Korea
Year
2010
Festival Edition
IFFR 2011
Length
116'
Medium
HDcam
Original title
Pasuggun
Language
Korean
Producers
Yoon Sung-Hyun, Park Joo-young
Sales
CJ Entertainment
Screenplay
Yoon Sung-Hyun
Cinematography
Byun Bong-Sun
Editor
Yoon Sung-Hyun
Production Design
Kang Young-Soo
Sound Design
Kim Soo-Hyun
Music
Park Min-June
Cast
Park Jung-Min, Lee Je-Hoon
Director
Yoon Sung-Hyun
Premiere
International première
Country of production
South Korea
Year
2010
Festival Edition
IFFR 2011
Length
116'
Medium
HDcam
Original title
Pasuggun
Language
Korean
Producers
Yoon Sung-Hyun, Park Joo-young
Sales
CJ Entertainment
Screenplay
Yoon Sung-Hyun
Cinematography
Byun Bong-Sun
Editor
Yoon Sung-Hyun
Production Design
Kang Young-Soo
Sound Design
Kim Soo-Hyun
Music
Park Min-June
Cast
Park Jung-Min, Lee Je-Hoon