Innocent witness An old man suffering from depression is found dead and his housekeeper Mi Ran is charged with murder. Her lawyer, Sun Ho, is surprised to learn that the only witness to the crime is Ji Woo, a teenage girl with Asperger’s syndrome. Can Ji Woo take the right position and build an investigation? What will he choose when his professional duty and the concepts of honor and morality diverge? A good and bright film with a well-defined morality.
Actor Jung Woo-Sung in 2019 at the 55th annual BaekSang Arts Awards for his role as lawyer Sung Ho was awarded the Grand Prix. And I have to say, well deserved. The titanic work was done by the young, but already quite experienced actress Kim Hyang-gi. Playing people with mental disabilities is always difficult, because it requires a special adaptation to the role. But the image of her autistic girl Ji Woo was believed with great confidence. Throughout the film, there was no falsehood, although I do not have much experience with such people. These two central characters made up a decent duet and pulled out, in fact, the whole film. Although I did not see in the plot - the process of investigating dashing ups and downs.
Interestingly, the creators of the film avoided extremes and did not turn it into a banal tearful melodrama that presses on the feelings of the viewer, or a criminal thriller, bringing the line of investigation to the main plan. Director Lee Han successfully combines each of the genres, chaining the viewer to the screen, so that more than two hours of viewing do not strain at all. In fact, this is the first detective project in the director’s filmography, which could not but affect the film. You don’t need to be legally savvy or even know the Korean judicial system to notice several inconsistencies in both the line of investigation and the way the trial is going. Testimony can easily be invalidated, and the interrogation process is inadmissible. How do we know a few facts at the very end, even though the writers do not logically sum them up? The lawyer of the defendant constantly meets with the young witness and interrogates her. It is unlikely that he has the right to do so without permission. Many physical evidence is simply ignored. In addition, you can clearly see how the judge likes the lawyer, not the prosecutor. But he has to remain dispassionate, right? Some lines are superfluous, and are not opened further.
Although in general, the film was quite worthy, and largely because of the excellent acting. It is noticeable how the main character Sun Ho transforms from an indifferent and somewhere even cynical to the surrounding lawyer-loser into a compassionate person. And if at the very beginning he is interested in an autistic girl only for the benefit of his client, then in the end he understands and sincerely empathizes with the innocent witness Ji Woo. Enjoy your visit.
8 out of 10