Behind in rent and evidently struggling to raise his daughter, this single father sees the trip as easy money. The action starts in Seoul when cab driver Man-seob (Song) hears of an opportunity to take Peter, a German journalist (Kretschmann) down to the city of Gwangju, located in the southwest corner of the Korean peninsula. Eom Yu-na’s deft script is based on a true story which took place when German reporter Jürgen Hinzpeter travelled to Gwangju to witness first-hand the reprisals. Troops were sent to major cities, but the city of Gwanju was a particular flashpoint due to its high concentration of students. The film is set during the brief time when martial law was declared in South Korea by the military government in response to growing demands for democracy. Further Asian territories come on line in September.įront and centre is an excellent Song Kang-ho who repeatedly demonstrates how his presence can transform a film Arrriving in Korean cinemas less than a year after citizens poured onto the streets of Seoul to protest - and eventually unseat - President Park Geun-hye, Jang Hoon’s drama seems well placed to tap into the political consciouness both locally and overseas when it opens at home and in a raft of international territories (US, UK and Australia/NZ) after closing the Fantasia International Film Festival. Palpably well-crafted and acted, Jang Hoon’s A Taxi Driver casts Song Kang-ho as a cabbie who takes a German journalist (Thomas Kretschmann) into the Korean city of Gwangju in May 1980 in the middle of an uprising in which paratroopers opened fire on protesters, killing hundreds.

Watch korean movie a taxi driver 2017