 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Train to Busan aka Busanhaeng • Year: 2016 • Country: South Korea • Director: Sang-ho Yeon • Main cast: Yoo Gong, Soo-an Kim, Yu-mi Jeong • Runtime: 118 min • Production company: Next Entertainment World • TRAILER |
We saw this movie on the first day of the Sitges Film Festival of Catalonia. I sometimes like going to the movies without having read much about it (it’s also the advantage of going to festivals), then all you see is part of the surprise. But in this case, a zombie movie taking place in a train… maybe doesn’t leave much intrigue for the viewer, you could think. Knowing it was shown in Cannes is already a good reference, but we mainly took the chance for being fans of zombie movies, and why not, the train plot sounded quite fetching… And what a ride!
Not even after 5 minutes the auditorium was applauding (ok, this is not a surprise in Sitges) but believe me, it was just the first of many cheers during the two hours of thrilling action. The Korean cinema is on the rise (or it’s been for many years, but it’s just hard for us to have access to it) and director Sang-ho Yeon brings back the fun in the zombie genre. Director of animation, makes his debut with real flesh actors and manages to build up strong characters with charisma that will contribute to the movie with emotional and comical touches abreast. Because during the epic travel on board of the train laughs and sorrow go hand in hand and will accompany us relentlessly with the constant tension, allowing only small pauses to breathe. The energy is contagious and keeps you tied to the seat until the end.
The movie was shot in 4 months, which seems a short time considering the amount of action the film involves. Maybe the fact that the director had made Seoul Station before (animation film released also on 2016, only after the great success of Train to Busan) and the fact that it works as a sequel for this one, sharing a big part of the plot, helped him visualising the hole. It’s just a conjecture, because anyway it won a well deserved Best Director Award at Sitges Film Festival.
Not just the thriller has a perfectly directed action but also allows itself to include a moral story behind zombies and explosions. Although the themes and the main characters are not far from topics, they neither are pretentious, and they give an extra layer to the movie for those who like going further than the surface. Learning that selfishness isn’t the key to survive in a zombie apocalypse, although not new, is still actual in present society. And maybe we should be reminded more often, that we all need a hand sooner or later, and helping the other today may mean saving the world tomorrow.
RATE: 7/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1187064/
