| Moby Dick | |
| Director: | Park In-je |
| Producer: | Oh Young-suk |
| Screenplay: | Park In-je Park Shin-kyu |
| Starring: | Hwang Jung-min Jin Goo Kim Min-hee Kim Sang-ho |
| Studio: | Palette Pictures |
| Runtime: | 112 minutes |
| Country: | South Korea |
| Language: | Korean |
Moby Dick is a 2011 South Korean thriller film written by Park In-je and Park Shin-kyu, directed by Park In-je, and starring Hwang Jung-min, Jin Goo, Kim Min-hee and Kim Sang-ho.
In winter 1994, an explosion occurs at the fictional Balam Bridge on the outskirts of Seoul and is attributed to terrorists. Social affairs reporter Lee Bang-woo (Hwang) begins to investigate the case when an old friend, Yoon-hyuk (Jin), hands him some secret documents and claims that the explosion was committed intentionally by the government. Lee teams up with fellow journalists Sung Hyo-kwan (Kim Min-hee) and Son Jin-ki (Kim Sang-ho) to pursue the truth. Their investigation reveals what seems to be a secret group that operates the government, and they begin to unravel a string of conspiracies that become far deadlier than they anticipated.[1] [2]
The film is the feature directing debut of Park In-je, grand prizewinner of the 2003 Mise-en-Scene Genre Film Festival.[3] Park was working on a screenplay about a reporter when he came across an account of Private Yun Seok-yang, a soldier at the Defense Security Command of Korea’s Armed Forces. In 1990 Yun deserted his camp, carrying a floppy disk that contained a list of national leaders, including former presidents, religious leaders, politicians, and social activists, that the DSC had been illegally investigating; he made a declaration of conscience and revealed the contents of the disk at a press conference.[4] Moby Dick, loosely based on Yun’s story, follows a journalist’s attempts to investigate a secret organization that controls the government.[5] The title Moby Dick alludes to Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick by conjuring up an overwhelming entity whose size makes it impossible to see all at once; Moby Dick was also the name of a café near Seoul University that was used by the DSC to investigate ordinary citizens.[6] Starring actor Hwang Jung-min interviewed bureau-level reporters to help prepare for his role.[7]
The film was shot during the coldest winter in South Korea in 30 years. Shooting began in mid-October 2010 and ended in February 2011, with the cast and crew enduring the cold for five months.[8]
The film was released on June 9, 2011, to generally positive reviews for its 90s-era settings, moody cinematography, and cast performances.[9] [10] [11] It grossed around $3 million at the South Korean box office.[12] [13]
| Award | Year | Category | Nominee(s) / work(s) | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cine21 Movie Award | 2011 | Best Screenplay of the Year | Park In-je and Park Shin-kyu | [14] | |
| Baeksang Arts Awards | 2011 | Best New Director — Film | |||
| Best Screenplay — Film | Park In-je and Park Shin-kyu | ||||
| Grand Bell Awards | 2011 | Best New Director | [15] | ||
| Best Supporting Actor | |||||
| Best Planning | You Jeong-hun |