[Korean Film News] Critic Predicts "Voice of a Murderer" Will Flop

A film critic predicts that the docudrama "Voice of a Murderer," which opened today in theatres, will do poorly at the box office. One of the most highly anticipated films of the year, Park Jin-pyo's (You Are My Sunshine) latest work, about a kidnapper who abducts the child of a successful news anchor (Seol Kyeong-gu) and his wife (Kim Nam-joo), is based on actual events that took place sixteen years ago. The kidnapper demands a ransom of 100 million won, which is, well, a lot of dough. When the police intervene, things go from bad to worse and over the course of 44 days, the parents receive threatening phone calls demanding still more money. When the child is found dead on the banks of the Han River, it is revealed that the nine-year-old boy was murdered just two days after the kidnapping. The killer remains at large. At the time of the ordeal, the event received a good deal of media exposure, with the result that a great many Koreans are already familiar with the outcome of the story. According to Kim Tae-jong, staff reporter for The Korea Times, the film lacks "cinematic interpretation", explaining that "It remains too faithful to the horrific crime, coming across more like a long reconstructed television crime docudrama." Director Park's previous film, "You Are My Sunshine" (starring the radiant Jeon Do-yeon), was the most successful melodrama in history.

[Source: Han Cinema]