"Helpless" Cast Photo
The film never ceases to compel. As the layers of deceit are peeled back, Byun seems in complete command of her material. Her narrative dexterity flaunts an audacious Chinatown-like clue to the missing woman’s whereabouts without pre-empting the climax. -Russell Edwards, Variety
Byun’s film uses [Miyabe Miyuki’s] book as a framework upon which to hang more current issues… Byun also floats questions of how much we can truly ‘know’ those closest to us. – Elizabeth Kerr, The Hollywood Reporter
A Hitchcock-ian, film noir –Andy Klein, FilmWeek on 89.3 KPCC
HELPLESS
Following a limited release at CGV Cinemas in Los Angeles, CJ Entertainment America is launching the moody Korean thriller Helpless on May 11, 2012 in select theatres across North America. The film was a critical darling and unexpected box office champion for two consecutive weeks when it was released in Korea earlier this year.
SYNOPSIS
In the blink of an eye, my fiancé vanished.
Mun-ho (LEE Sun-kyun) and Seon-yeong (KIM Min-hee) are a couple engaged to be married who pull over at a rest stop on their way to meeting Mun-ho’s parents. When Mun-ho returns to the car with coffee, he finds the car door flung open in the pouring rain with the engine still running – his fiancée is nowhere to be found. Frantic after discovering her apartment emptied out and that her previous workplaces don’t even exist, Mun-ho enlists his cousin and former police detective, Jong-geun, to help him find her. As they delve deeper, they discover that piecing together the shards of this woman’s puzzle produces a horrifying picture.
THE TALENT
Known for her sensual portrayal of female obsession in Ardor (2002), director BYUN Young-joo ends her eight year hiatus and returns to form with Helpless. Having audaciously founded her own production shingle Boim Pictures in her early twenties, BYUN has an impressive track record of films that bring previously silent voices to the screen. Byun was fascinated upon reading Kasha (火車), the novel of best-selling Japanese author Miyabe Miyuki, and almost immediately got in touch with the author to pursue a film adaptation. The result is a haunting picture of an incident that goes beyond the thriller genre and speaks to our modern society.
HELPLESS May 11 Theatre Release List
AMC Ridgefield Park (NY)
AMC Empire (NY)
AMC Showplace Niles (Chicago)
AMC Alderwood (Seattle)
Cineplex Silvercity Coquiltam (Vancouver)
AMC Yonge & Dundas (Toronto)
ONLINE
Visit the film’s website for trailers, clips, photos and more information: www.helpless2012.com
I hope that this eventually comes to my city, I haven’t seen a Korean film in theatres since The Host.