• Home
  • Campus
    • Academics
    • Greek Life
    • SGA
    • Student Life
  • State/Local
    • Around Town
    • Board of Regents
    • National
    • Pierre
    • Vermillion City Council
    • Vermillion Police Department
  • Sports
    • Cross Country
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Men’s Basketball
    • Soccer
    • Swimming/Diving
    • Track and Field
    • Volleyball
    • Women’s Basketball
      • WNIT Championship
  • Verve
    • Feature
    • Diversity
    • Events
    • CAB
    • Verve Blogs
  • Opinion
  • E-Edition
The Volante
The Volante
  • Home
  • Campus
    • Academics
    • Greek Life
    • SGA
    • Student Life
  • State/Local
    • Around Town
    • Board of Regents
    • National
    • Pierre
    • Vermillion City Council
    • Vermillion Police Department
  • Sports
    • Cross Country
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Men’s Basketball
    • Soccer
    • Swimming/Diving
    • Track and Field
    • Volleyball
    • Women’s Basketball
      • WNIT Championship
  • Verve
    • Feature
    • Diversity
    • Events
    • CAB
    • Verve Blogs
  • Opinion
  • E-Edition
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
Review: ‘The Tiger’ establishes a new domain for Korean filmmakingVerve
Home
Verve
Verve Blogs

Review: ‘The Tiger’ establishes a new domain for Korean filmmaking

April 4th, 2018 Parker Oleson Verve, Verve Blogs comments

Share this story

Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest

Few foreign films succeed in creating a compelling narrative quite like “The Tiger: An Old Hunter’s Tale.” Directed and written by Korean filmmaker Hoon-jung Park, “The Tiger” is an immortal tale of struggle, independence and freedom.

The film stars veteran actor Min-sik Choi as Chun Man-duk, a hunter that watches over an ancient and venerated Korean mountain during the Japanese occupation of the Kingdom of Korea. Set in 1925, the story revolves around the extinction of the Korean tiger at the hands of hired hunters. When only one tiger remains, it will push the Japanese government to extreme lengths and put Chun Man-duk in the crossfire. When the hunter sets his sights on the monstrous cat, there can be only one outcome.

Supporting Min-sik’s performance is a slew of Korean talent. The standout is a rival hunter, Goo-gyeong played by Man-sik Jeong. The ferocity of his performance brings an incredible amount of risk and reward to the film’s dynamic.

The music works wonders to increase the movie’s value. The cinematography creates beauty in every shot of the Korean landscape. White, snowy forests allow the viewer to focus on the tense action. Vibrant, green bamboo delight the eye. Dense, brown undergrowth create extreme suspense as the audience strains to find the tiger in the foliage.

Korean cinema is very unlike American cinema. It is often fraught with surreal storylines that American audiences find outlandish and strange. However, “The Tiger” has a central, real plot that only suffers from brief dips into fantasy. The true difference that audiences of “The Tiger” need to look out for is the very slow pace at which Korean movies often move. The film is nearly two and a half hours long, and much of this stems from the drawn-out suspense and padding of many scenes. However, this is not at the film’s expense. Those moments of suspense and waiting are vital to the atmosphere and tension of the movie’s key scenes.

The true star of this film is the tiger. Rendered entirely in CGI, the titular character looks lifelike and majestic. Referred to by locals as the “Mountain Lord,” the beast is enormous and threatening. The tiger brings down many of those that hunt it. Each action scene in the movie is a blur of black and orange as the cat flies around the screen.

Underneath the surface of this tale of man vs nature is a story of Korean pride. American audiences may not know that the tiger is a symbol of Korean independence. Through this story of a foreign government’s attempts to snuff out the Korean tiger forever, Hoon-jung shows his audience the vitality of his country’s spirit. The tiger is a powerful force to be reckoned with, and so is this film. Any movie lover that enjoys foreign film, stories of man against nature, or is a lover of Korean history and cinema should check out “The Tiger” on Netflix.

Share this story

Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest

Parker Oleson

Related Posts

People of the Pack: Austin Thompson Feature
April 18th, 2018

People of the Pack: Austin Thompson

Parker's Movie Review: 'A Quiet Place' makes a bang Verve
April 18th, 2018

Parker's Movie Review: 'A Quiet Place' makes a bang

Student shatters SoundCloud stigmas Feature
April 17th, 2018

Student shatters SoundCloud stigmas

Facebook Comments

Latest Stories

Apr 20th 4:51 PM
Opinion

Letter to the Editor: Flag etiquette

Apr 20th 12:34 PM
Campus

Presidential finalists announced

Apr 19th 1:29 PM
Opinion

Diversity should include all perspectives and topics, not a few

Apr 18th 10:06 PM
Opinion

It’s time to change the masculinity model

Apr 18th 9:39 PM
Sports

Women’s tennis team looks to claim Summit League Tournament title

Apr 18th 8:32 PM
Verve

People of the Pack: Austin Thompson

Apr 18th 3:26 PM
Sports

Player of the Pack: Austin Simmons

Apr 18th 2:26 PM
Campus

University administration responds to rumors of campus threat

Apr 18th 2:15 PM
Opinion

Editorial: Protect the earth every day, not just on Earth Day

Apr 18th 10:48 AM
Opinion

Letter to the Editor: Plant seeds in continuing traditions

People of the Pack

"I like a lot of music a lot of other people like, so if I’m just playing a lot of loud music to a crowd and getting paid for it, that sounds awesome."
"The nature here is amazing. The Vermillion River, the park, hanging out with my friends and I like cooking."
"I’ve had a couple uncles and a couple aunties come here. My grandmother attended USD in 1970. So they really inspired me and encouraged me to come to USD. They made it sound really awesome and it is an awesome school. I like USD."
"I’m most active with Alpha Phi. We have a lot of philanthropy events like we have our Red Dress Gala, which is just an event we hold every year to raise money for women’s heart health. I’m pretty involved with that, and we also do the Backpack Program where you pack lunches for kids in Clay County."
"After this year I will be doing my MBA after this. Hopefully I can get into a marketing firm and just work my way up. That’s what I’m hoping."
"I find it fun to go to the library in the student-athlete's section. It's nice because you can go there every night. I have been there every night this week just studying and stuff for my test tomorrow."
"USD really cares about its students. They just keep everything really nice here and it’s personal."
"I want to be a politician just for the simple fact of genuinely educating and helping people who don't understand certain policy issues. I want to help them see beyond the biased media so they can research on their own."
"I want to end up being a delivery nurse, anywhere honestly. That’s the end game. I want to travel a lot."
"I want to be a nurse somewhere, but I don’t really know what kind of area. I just want to help people and watch them achieve their goals and get better."
"I just love singing — singing’s my favorite thing to do. It’s always my escape for everything."
"I am going to become a counselor and try to create a safe and welcoming environment. I'll help them where they are, and try to get them where they want to be."
"I very much care for my family and try to take care of them in any way I can. Part of that when I lived in California was trying to take the stress off of my parents. I would do everything around the house: cooking, cleaning, yard work, taking out the trash, grocery shopping."
"I would travel anywhere, I don’t care. I just really like being in new places and meeting new people."
"I can deal with his (stuff), and he can deal with mine. We’ll be up until four in the morning."                         "We’re just social people, we like to talk and have a good time."
"I’ve definitely met people who are more free-spirited and not judgmental and more interested in the same things as I am. I studied abroad last summer in Ireland."
"(If I could go back) I would’ve stuck with basketball and played basketball in college. I just feel like I missed out on an opportunity. I still could’ve gotten a business degree while playing basketball. I just wish I would’ve worked harder at it. I played at first and then I quit. I signed at USF, University of Sioux Falls. I played summer ball with them, with their team, so I didn’t get to experience the full effect."
"I don’t think I’d change anything, because then if I changed something then something else wouldn’t have happened. Why change? My life is pretty good right now. Life is completely about perspective."
"My favorite artist is my band, Bread of Stone. We are growing up with Christian music and we have a lot of shows too. We already have a couple albums out."
"I was a sophomore in high school when my grandma Betty passed away, and it was two years before that when my grandpa Walter passed away. I don’t remember much of Betty because she had Alzheimer’s, so we would go see her once or twice a year in her home. I know that she liked to bake a lot. She would bake all kinds of things — cookies, pies, cakes. She was known for her little tea parties when we came over. The only thing I remember is her sitting in the back porch with my grandpa when we would go to visit them before they both moved to homes. I remember lots of my grandpa. He was a fiery, grumpy old man. He used to give us Sunkists and cookies every time we went to see him. We’d bring him meals when he still lived in his house, and later when he had moved, we would take him to church every Sunday and go for hour long drives that he loved and we all had to suffer through."

Weather

  • Home
  • Campus
  • State/Local
  • Sports
  • Verve
  • Opinion
  • E-Edition
  • Back to top

The Volante

The Volante is the University of South Dakota’s independent student-run newspaper since 1887. Al Neuharth Media Center The Volante 555 N. Dakota Street Vermillion, SD 57069

About

  • About
  • Code of Ethics
  • History
  • Awards
  • Executive Staff
  • Jobs
  • Comment Policy
  • Apply
  • Advertise

Engage

  • News Tips
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Overheard Submission
  • In The Know & In The Dark
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe

Media Partners

  • KYOT-TV
  • KAOR-FM
  • Coyote Communication
  • Coyote Creative
  • Media & Journalism Department
© The Volante 2015. All rights reserved.