The Night Owl (2022)

Interesting fact-ion sageuk

"The Night Owl" is one of the best fact-ion (facts+fiction) sageuk I have seen so far. Using In Jo's infamous reign and Crown Prince So Hyeon's death as part of the plot, it develops an original story around an atypical character.
I like historical movies that stick to the facts as much as possible very much, but I also like a well made fiction based on historical events when it is cleverly made, just like this movie. I don't think it's a thriller though, only a good sageuk with some thrills. I'm not usually keen for humour in sageuk, but the few little scenes in this movie were actually good and well made.
The cast is very good and all the actors are really good in their respective roles. Actors like Yoo Hae Jin, Jo Sung Ha and Choi Moo Sung, as usual, never disappoint, and Ryu Joon Yeol is excellent as Kyung Soo, and special mention for Kim Sung Cheol too that is really good in this role too.
The music isn't very special or grandiose, but it's good, and the aesthetic of the movie quite beautiful with an overall production very well made so I give it a pretty high ratings.

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A korean “Tarantino-like” film

The Night Owl is a movie that took a small part of Korean history and was told in a very different way. It was a similar style with Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino’s films such as Inglorious Bastards and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It’s very refreshing and exciting retelling of what happened to the kidnapped crown prince who died just a few days after he came back to Joseon.

The acting was really good with Ryu Jun Yeol as the “light-blind” acupuncturist/doctor. It is not the first time I saw Ryu in a saeguk (Alienoid) and he delivered very well in this movie with a different take and was really convincing with his role. Yoo Hae-Jin as the mad King Injo also was very good and showed how flexible of an actor he is.

The cinematography of the film was really dark since they have to use dark sets, however there was no problem with seeing the small details while watching night scenes. The screenplay was also good and the flow of story was smooth even it is a thriller genre in the historical period. The best scene for me was when the crown princess went to the King to tell the story of “the witness”, the realization of who really killed the crown prince was amazing.

All in all, I recommend this movie. It is very thrilling movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Also, this movie really won a lot of Baeksang awards (Best Film, Best New Director and Best Actor), thus it is a must watch!

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