Villain and Widow (Korean: 이층의 악당; RR: Yicheungui Akdang; lit. "Villain on the Second Floor"[3]) is a 2010 South Korean film written and directed by Son Jae-gon about a depressed widower who rents out a room to a suspicious man who claims to be a novelist.[4]
Villain and Widow | |
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Hangul | 이층의 악당 |
Revised Romanization | Yicheungui Akdang |
Directed by | Son Jae-gon |
Written by | Son Jae-gon |
Produced by | Choi Pyung-ho[1] |
Starring | Kim Hye-soo Han Suk-kyu |
Cinematography | Choi Sang-ho |
Edited by | Shin Min-kyung |
Music by | Kim Jun-seong Lee Jin-hee |
Production company | Sidus-Benex Cinema Fund1 |
Distributed by | Sidus FNH |
Release date |
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Running time | 115 minutes |
Country | South Korea |
Language | Korean |
Box office | US$$3.7 million[2] |
Yeon-joo, a depressed widow, lives with her bad-tempered daughter, Seong-ah, who's an ex-child model but is now being bullied in school. Things become worse when she starts to experience financial problems. Now deep in debt, Yeon-joo decides to rent out a room in her house to a mysterious man named Chang-in who introduces himself as a novelist. Unbeknownst to her, Chang-in is a thief who's trying to get his hands on a set of Ming Dynasty tea utensils that her deceased husband stole.
In 2009, the film was given the Lotte Award and received US$8,550 in funding at the Asian Project Market (then-called Pusan Promotion Plan) of the 14th Busan International Film Festival.[5][6]
Russell Edwards of Variety called it "amusing if overlong."[1] James Mudge of Beyond Hollywood described it as "a breath of fresh air" that "[refuses] to comply with the usual tired genre clichés."[7] Pierce Conran of Modern Korean Cinema wrote that it "transcends genre."[8] Kyu Hyun Kim of Koreanfilm.org wrote that it is "a superbly intelligent and supremely witty piece of entertainment."[9]
Kim Hye-soo received Best Actress nominations at the 48th Grand Bell Awards and the 32nd Blue Dragon Film Awards in 2011. She also won a Popular Star Award at the latter.
Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
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48th Grand Bell Awards | Best Actress | Kim Hye-soo | Nominated |
32nd Blue Dragon Film Awards | Nominated | ||
Popular Star Award | Won | ||