While a bit ponderous and overlong, it is a heartfelt appreciation of ordinary people turned heroes in extraordinary circumstances.
Set during the bloody Gwangju Uprising in South Korea in the Spring of 1980, Hun Jang’s A Taxi Driver delivers a powerful and heartbreaking, yet inspirational, true story framed within a Summer blockbuster.A Taxi Driver showcases the talented Song Kang-ho with one of the most invigorating and captivating performances of 2017. “A Taxi Driver” is a truly great film that manages to combine entertainment and meaningfulness, in a visually impressive package, under the elaborate direction of Jang Hoon and a great performance by Song Kang-ho.
A richly imagined tribute to a working-class hero.
A Taxi Driver delivers a powerful and heartbreaking, yet inspirational, true story framed within a Summer blockbuster. At times feeling like a disaster film, the drama in A Taxi Driver steadily increases through a series of set pieces, each becoming progressively larger in scale, and culminating in one of the film’s weaker points – a chase sequence involving a caravan of taxis rushing to the aid of Man-seob and Jurgen as they attempt to escape the pursuing military out of Gwangju.
Though there aren’t any official numbers, an estimated 600 people lost their lives during the Gwangju Uprising, and while this is a specific and important piece of South Korean history, A Taxi Driver presents this event using broad themes we can all relate to while still honoring those involved and affected by it.
Song Kang-ho as Kim Man-seob
A widowed taxi driver who lives with his eleven year old daughter in a small house.
Thomas Kretschmann as Jürgen Hinzpeter
A German reporter. The character is based on the li
Movie Information
Genre: History, Drama, Action, Comedy
Original Language: Korean
Director: Jang Hoon
Producer: Park Eun-kyeong
Writer: Eom You-na
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 11, 2017 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 7, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.5M
Runtime: 2h 17m
Add comment