Overview of The Villainess

‘The Villainess’ is the story of a lady assassin Sook-hee and how the South Korean intelligence agency makes use of her skills. The cops capture and erase her memory to make her an agent in the name Chae Yeon-soo. They give her a new face through plastic surgery. The movie is directed by Jung Byung-gil. The role of Sook-hee and Chae Yeon-soo is performed by Kim Ok-vin and the movie was released in 2017.

Profile

• Movie: ‘The Villainess’
• Direction: Jung Byung-gil
• Starring: Kim Ok-vin, Shin Ha-kyun
• Written by: Jung Byung-gil, Jung Byeong-sik
• Production: Moon Young-hwa
• Music by: Koo Ja-wan
• Cinematography: Park Jung-hoon
• Edited by: Heo Sun-mi
• Production Company: Independent Filmmakers Group BFG
• Release dates: 21 May 2017 (Cannes), 8 June 2017 (South Korea), 25 August 2017 (United States)
• Distributed by: Next Entertainment World
• Running time: 129 minutes
• Country: South Korea
• Language: Korean

Cast

• Kim Ok-vin as Sook-hee / Chae Yeon-soo
• Min Ye-ji as young Sook-hee
• Park Chul-min as Sook-hee’s father
• Sung Joon as Jung Hyun-soo
• Kim Seo-hyung as Kwon-sook
• Son Min-ji as Min-joo
• Lee Seung-joo as Choon-mo
• Shin Ha-kyun as Lee Joong-sang
• Jung Hae-kyun as Jang Chun
• Jo Eun-ji as Kim Sun
• Kim Yeon-woo as Eun-hye
• Kim Hye-na as training female rookie

Synopsis

The cops trap the female assassin named Sook-hee after she finishes a massacre in a hallway. To utilise her assassination skills for the country, the government exposes her to plastic surgery and erases her memory as Sook-hee.

Sook-hee starts her life as Chae Yeon-soo. Living as Chae Yeon-soo, she tests positive in the pregnancy test. Taking advantage of her situation, Kwon-sook asks her to commit to a contract for 10 years offering her freedom. During the contract period, she has to work as an agent for the Korean intelligence agency.

She accepts the freedom offered by Kwon-sook and starts to train and work for the Korean intelligence agency. She gives birth to her daughter Eun-hye while training as an agent.

Yeon-soo is provided with an apartment to live with her daughter after the successful completion of her first assassination as an agent. Nonetheless, to keep her in check, Kwon-sook assigns a full-time secret agent Jung Hyun-soo next to Yeon-soo’s apartment.

Obeying the orders of Kwon-sook, Jung Hyun-soo befriends her but later their friendship turns into a relationship. One day, Kwon-sook gives her the assignment to assassin a young girl’s father. This incident triggers her memories of living as Sook-hee.

When Sook-hee was a 7-year-old child, she witnessed the murder of her father by an anonymous man. Though she did not get a chance to take a look at the killer’s face, she remembers the tune that he whistles. One day she confronts Jang Chun, the man with yellow teeth.

Thinking Jang Chun as her father’s murderer, Sook-hee tries to kill him. However, she fails in that attempt and gets beaten up by Jang Chun. Jang Chun tells her that he is not her father’s old murderer and later sells her to a prostitution gang. To her luck, Lee Joong-sang arrives and rescues her from getting assaulted by a client after a fight with Jang Chun. In the fight, Jang Chun gets killed.

Lee Joong-sang adopts Sook-hee and trains her as an assassin. When Lee Joong-sang marries Sook-hee, she expresses her desire to live a normal life leaving her life as an assassin. Her desire distracts Lee Joong-sang and he abandons her by faking his death and puts the blame of his death on his enemy gang. Lee Joong-sang’s death news enrages her and Sook-hee seeks revenge for her husband’s death by killing his enemy gang. The actual plan of Lee Joong-sang was to kill Sook-hee at the hands of Joong-sang’s enemy gang.

Turning to the life of Chae Yeon-soo, she is assigned to assassin a man in the wedding catering company. As part of the assassination plan, her team arrange Chae Yeon-soo’s wedding with Hyun-soo.

Unfortunately, her new target is Lee Joong-sang. The unexpected appearance of Joong-sang again in her life distracts her and she misses the shot when she points her gun aiming her target. The failed assignment becomes the loophole to reveal her true identity as Sook-hee.

Later Lee Joong-sang meets her to disclose Hyun-soo’s true identity and the intention behind his approach. Lee Joong-sang’s gang members catch Hyun-soo and Eun-hye. To avoid a bloody fight and to save themselves, Hyun-soo tells Joong-sang that he is the biological father of Eun-hye. However, the news falls on deaf ears and he kills Hyun-soo and Eun-hye by planting a bomb.

Once again Yeon-soo lost everything that she hold close to her heart. She raged down on Joong-sang’s men killing most of them. By the time Joong-sang joins the rest of his men and boards on a bus. Yeon-soo chases the bus and climbs into it. She catches Joong-sang and before she slashes her axe through his head, Joong-sang whistles the old tune, revealing that he is the one who killed her father.

The movie ends by showing a satisfied Yeon-soo with a grim smile on her face when the cops surround her.

Theme

Revenge

Park Chul-min’s 7-year-old daughter turns into a vengeful assassin when she is adopted and trained by Lee Joong-sang and later by the Korean intelligence agency. In one way or another, her vengeance is utilised by both of them. Her thirst for blood starts when she witnesses her father’s murder. Later with excellent training, she becomes a brilliant assassin with massive physical and mental strength.

Awards

• 16th New York Asian Film Festival
  Daniel E. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema
  
• 21st Fantasia International Film Festival
  GURU Prize for Best Action Feature Film
• 26th Buil Film Awards
  Best Cinematography – Park Jung-hoon
• 54th Grand Bell Awards
  Best Cinematography – Park Jung-hoon
  Technical Award – The Villainess
• 38th Blue Dragon Film Awards
  Best Technical Achievement – Stunts – Kwon Ki-deok
• 18th Busan Film Critics Awards
  Technical Award – Park Jung-hoon
  Kwon Kwi-deok
• 23rd Chunsa Film Art Awards
  Best Actress – Kim Ok-bin

Interesting Facts about The Villainess

1. The perfection achieved in the filming and presentation of the film gifted a standing ovation for a whole four minutes at the Cannes Film Festival.
2. The movie is awarded the Daniel E. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema when it is screened at the 16th New York Asian Film Festival in 2017.
3. The distributor of the film Next Entertainment World sold ‘The Villainess’ in 136 countries in total.

FAQs

1. Who enacted the role Sook-hee in the movie ‘The Villainess’?
   Kim Ok-vin acted as Sook-hee in the movie ‘The Villainess’.
2. Who directed the film ‘The Villainess’?
   Jung Byung-gil is the director of the film ‘The Villainess’.
3. When is the movie ‘The Villainess’ released?
   The movie ‘The Villainess’ is released on 2017
4. What is the Instagram Id of Kim Ok-vin?
   @kimokvin.