Broken

Broken is one of those cold, quiet thrillers that instead of giving you “thrills,” envelops you in its dark, menacing atmosphere. It’s the kind of film that follows you around for a few days after you watch it.
Jeong Jae-young (Welcome to Dongmakgol, Castaway on the Moon) plays a single father named Sang-hyun who works in a textile factory. Between long hours at work, and occasional nights out drinking, he doesn’t see his middle-school aged daughter Su-jin as much as he should. One night after working overtime, he returns home to find that Su-jin is not there. It’s the nightmare that lurks at the back of every parent’s mind, but in this case it turns out to be as terrible as his worst fears.
Structurally, Broken is a revenge drama. Sang-hyun has nothing left to live for, other than to find the ones who abducted his daughter. But neither he nor the audience ever believes that revenge will accomplish much of anything. We see none of the desperate, rushing momentum of a Park Chan-wook movie. Instead, revenge is just an instinct that is followed. It leads to the end of the story, nothing more.

Broken is the third Korean film in recent years to be based on a novel by the prolific Japanese mystery writer Higashino Keigo. The previous two were White Night (2009), based on the 1999 novel Byakuyko; and Perfect Number (2012), based on the 2005 novel The Devotion of Suspect X. Both were interesting, particularly Perfect Number, but the new film is clearly the strongest. Broken is based on a 2003 novel called Samayou Yaiba that was also adapted into a Japanese film Hovering Blade.

Higashino excels at creating memorable characters, and in this film we have two in particular. The much respected Jeong Jae-young portrays Sang-hyun as a man pulled to the limits of what any human being can withstand. Nonetheless he avoids exaggeration or overstatement, making for a finely pitched performance. Meanwhile Lee Seong-min (who also plays the husband in Venus Talk) gives a breakout performance as Detective Jang, whose sympathies lie with Sang-hyun but who is obligated to protect Sang-hyun’s target. By not giving us too much information about what lies behind his haggard, empty gaze, Lee makes his character fascinating.

This film marks a huge step forward for director Lee Jeong-ho, whose debut feature Bestseller was a functional and slightly cracked up horror-mystery that attracted a decent-sized audience, but was uneven in tone. Broken on the other hand is elegantly realized and utterly distinctive. It’s quiet for a thriller, to the extent that we strain our ears for each next sound. The use of music is also very subtle – particularly surprising is the way that during sudden bursts of violence, the music remains quietly in the background at the same volume.

More generally, the dominant mood and emotion expressed by the film’s aesthetic is one of sadness and sympathy for the hero’s plight. Broken is not a “thriller” that pumps you full of excitement, or a mystery that tantalizes you with its secrets. Instead, it’s an introspective look at victimhood and violence that is worth watching for its artful sound design alone, to say nothing of the gorgeous cinematography and great acting. In more ways than one, it stands out from the crowd.