Nowhere to Hide

There's a carefully researched police procedural underpinning Lee's breakthrough movie (a huge success at home and widely sold abroad), but its tone, texture and rhythms could not be less naturalistic. It's a work of committed and often dazzling artifice. Druglord Sungmin (Ahn playing a villain for once) kills a rival on the Forty Steps in Inchon, sparking a dogged manhunt led by the violent and scrofulous Detective Woo (Park at his best ever). Ruthless and ingenious, Sungmin slips repeatedly through the dragnet; Woo is on the case for 72 days, more often than not in pouring rain. Even without the odd discreet touches of CGI embellishment, Lee's work on the images is original enough to confirm that he's a world class talent.