The Man from Nowhere / 아저씨 (Ajeossi)

Mister

Earlier this year, one of my friends kept on recommending 아저씨, and I was very surprised when I finally checked it out to see that it was Korea’s highest grossing film in 2010, that I had completely missed it, and that it was available on DVD (at least in the UK). Oh and it also stars Won Bin (who is lovely) of Mother. Without further ado, and without any idea of what the story was about, I took a look.

The film starts with a secluded pawn-broker, and his young neighbour. She is looking for company as her mother, who is a druggie, doesn’t spend much time with her, and he wants to be left alone, but still tolerates and feeds her, which seems to be the limits of his interest and affection. When the  girl’s mother steal drugs from the club she works in, both her and her daughter are taken away and the pawn-broker decides to go and look for them. And he kicks ass. Not knowing anything about the story, I was mislead by the title in English, the Man from Nowhere, as I assumed that we would never know where “the man” is from or what his name is because 아저씨 is, in Korean, a term you use to address an (older) man you don’t know and there is really no translation in English, although “Sir”, “Mister” and sometimes “man” work in context. This is, actually,  how the young girl So-Mi calls “the man”. Anyway, about 30 minutes into the film, - this is not really a spoiler, the film is 2 hrs long! - you actually find out who this man (아저씨) is, and what he did in his past, and no, he is not “from nowhere”. I thought that the English title was actually disappointing and misleading, as I was expecting the main character to come and conquer, with no one around him having no clue who he was.  However, the film is NOT a disappointment, it was action packed, and with lots of poignant moments, and a surprise ending. Highly recommended :)