rave reviews
Pierce Conran at Twitch: “A dark road, a cop and a dead body at night – A Hard Day sets a familiar stage and wastes no time as it fervently barrels forward, building intrigue and suspense through an avalanche of clever cause and effect. Things escalate quickly for (homicide detective) Gun-soo and the circumstances he finds himself in echo well-worn genre tropes, particularly concerning Korean cinema, but the sheer energy of the pacing and the cleverly engineered plot machinations create an involving mystery that is undeniably fresh despite its familiarity.”
Jessica Kiang at Indiewire’s Playlist says: “Bring on the week, we say, because the exhilaration of A Hard Day is working even better than the Cannes-standard four espressos to make us think we can withstand anything. . . A Hard Day is a film that sets itself fairly narrow ambitions, achieves all of them and then some and yet has no pretensions to importance, weightiness or artistic self-expression. God, we loved it.” The headline on her review is: Twisty, Inventive, Hilarious Korean Cop Thriller A Hard Day Is A Total Blast.
Maggie Lee at Variety says that A Hard Day is: “a taut yet elaborately plotted narrative,” with “heady black humor, social satire and a touch of surrealism, that keeps audiences on the edge of their seats.” Furthermore, the “final twist . . .brought down the house at the film’s Directors’ Fortnight premiere.”
Stephen Dalton of the Hollywood Reporter writes that A Hard Day is “a masterclass in throat-squeezing, stomach-knotting suspense. Kim’s second feature is essentially a genre thriller, but a superior example loaded with smart plot twists, dark humor and high-gloss visuals. . .A Hard Day is full of smart surprises and darkly funny lurches. . . In accordance with genre rules, it also features explosions, shock fatalities and more jumpy false endings than Fatal Attraction. Kim’s classy cop caper is certainly not the deepest movie in Cannes, but it is a dynamic and highly enjoyable rollercoaster ride.”
Just seen it, and agree with everything, one of the most fun and thrilling rides you'll have this year. share