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AudienceofOne
One of the most stunning tour de forces of acting you will ever see
If you tune into Beyond Evil for no other reason, then do it for Shin Ha-kyun's Baeksang winning performance as small town cop, Lee Dong-sik. Beyond Evil is an excellent, finely-written crime thriller. But even if this isn't your genre, you won't regret watching this acting masterclass unfold.
Accused of the murder of his sister and her friend while still a teenager, Lee Dong-sik has carved out a life for himself as a beat cop in his regional town. As Beyond Evil begins, this backwater is disrupted by the arrival of elite golden boy, Lieutenant Han Joo-won, who's been sent to the small town to avoid a scandal that could impact on the promotion of his high-profile father. Joo-won is convinced that Dong-sik is guilty: not just of the murder of Yoo-yeon and Joo-seon 20 years ago but of other, more recent, killings of illegal immigrants.
Yeo Jin-goo perfectly embodies an entitled member of a ruling class who’s long been led to believe he’s always the smartest person in the room and struggles to know how to act once he makes his first big mistake. And in any other drama, his performance would be considered exceptional. Unfortunately he's acting next to Shin Ha-kyun whose portrayal of this damaged and sometimes unhinged man is one of the most extraordinary I've ever seen.
There’s an air of Twin Peaks small town gothic to Beyond Evil; a sense of a facade of small town life hiding a darkness the denizens either ignore or deliberately plaster over in the name of community solidarity. And with the body parts piling up, it’s time for all those secrets to be dredged up too.
Beyond Evil is the whole package: the writing, acting, themes, music, production values are all top notch. But while it doesn't quite rival the true masterpieces in this genre - Forest of Secrets/Stranger for example - it is still worth every award it won this year. And Shin Ha-kyun has proven himself to be one of the best actors of his generation. And not just in Korea but anywhere.
Accused of the murder of his sister and her friend while still a teenager, Lee Dong-sik has carved out a life for himself as a beat cop in his regional town. As Beyond Evil begins, this backwater is disrupted by the arrival of elite golden boy, Lieutenant Han Joo-won, who's been sent to the small town to avoid a scandal that could impact on the promotion of his high-profile father. Joo-won is convinced that Dong-sik is guilty: not just of the murder of Yoo-yeon and Joo-seon 20 years ago but of other, more recent, killings of illegal immigrants.
Yeo Jin-goo perfectly embodies an entitled member of a ruling class who’s long been led to believe he’s always the smartest person in the room and struggles to know how to act once he makes his first big mistake. And in any other drama, his performance would be considered exceptional. Unfortunately he's acting next to Shin Ha-kyun whose portrayal of this damaged and sometimes unhinged man is one of the most extraordinary I've ever seen.
There’s an air of Twin Peaks small town gothic to Beyond Evil; a sense of a facade of small town life hiding a darkness the denizens either ignore or deliberately plaster over in the name of community solidarity. And with the body parts piling up, it’s time for all those secrets to be dredged up too.
Beyond Evil is the whole package: the writing, acting, themes, music, production values are all top notch. But while it doesn't quite rival the true masterpieces in this genre - Forest of Secrets/Stranger for example - it is still worth every award it won this year. And Shin Ha-kyun has proven himself to be one of the best actors of his generation. And not just in Korea but anywhere.
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