Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: HUNT [Cannes Film Festival 2022]
Directing takes a presence of vision that depends on balance but also knowing who your audience is. With "Hunt" [Out Of Competition/Midnight/First Film], Jung Jae Lee jumps another bound after finding international success with "Squid Game". What he creates here while playing one of the main characters (Pyong) is a cool play on "Infernal Affairs" with a mix in of "Heat". The gun battles alone are at times breathtaking as the choreography with the help of a Hong Kong team is top notch. But it is the street fight nature of it with large weapons that is the most impressive. And on top of the blood splatter is kept within limits and it doesn't take away from the veracity of it. The drama behind the carnage is both understood and necessary and falls within the bands of mythos and tragedy while adhering to almost a 90s thriller aspect. While sometimes it panders to itself, it never slows down building to a crescendo. The camera also never stops moving and the coverage of the scenes shows that inherent planning and yet it also feels very fluid.
Lee as Pyong has the empathetic nature while Woo Sung Jung as Jung keeps the pressure on since they're both pursuing different sides of the same case which involve spy games between North and South Korea. Also the film takes place in the mid 80s so it conforms to that idea. Different loyalties and allegiances build but there is a logic to it. But sometimes it is the brutality of decisions including leaving one of the gun battles which is particularly harrowing. This pendulum swing also serves as a first in a series of good misdirects that fuel the film. Lee gives his characters (he also wrote the script) a menace and also a practicality at the same time yet it is structured in a symphonic way. The score has the job of moving along with the scenes espcially the gun battles without overcoming them. The climax seems overwrought but is still is thrilling. Plus it is the catalyst for the antecedent that defines what the journey was about and the meaning for its mirth. A-
By Tim Wassberg
