May, 1980. Man-seob is a taxi driver in Seoul who lives from hand to mouth, raising his young daughter alone. One day, he hears that there is a foreigner who will pay big money for a drive down to Gwangju city. Not knowing that he’s a German journalist with a hidden agenda, Man-seob takes the job.
Song Kang-ho Thomas Kretschmann Yoo Hae-jin Ryu Jun-yeol Park Hyuk-kwon Ko Chang-seok Jeon Hye-jin Choi Gwi-hwa Um Tae-goo Daniel Joey Albright Lee Jung-eun Jin-young Jung Ryu Tae-ho Seok-yong Jeong Cha Soon-bae Shin Dam-su Ryoo Sung-hyun Heo Jung-do Han Yi-jin Seo Hyun-woo Lee Sae-byeol Lee Yong-yi Han Sa-myung
Taeksi Woonjunsa, Egy taxisofőr, Taeksi woonjunsa, 出租车司机
Politics and human rights War and historical adventure Epic history and literature political, democracy, president, documentary or propaganda war, soldiers, combat, fought or military political, president, historical, politician or democracy emotion, emotional, moving, feelings or sadness martial arts, kung fu, choreography, cool or action-packed Show All…
Wow. Was so unbeschwert mit einem nachgesungenen Popsong beginnt, endet als ergreifende Geschichtsstunde und Loblied auf die Menschlichkeit. Hier trifft die fiktionalisierte Geschichte eines sich durchs Leben mogelnden Taxifahrers auf die echte Geschichte des Reporters Jürgen Hinzpeter, der als einziger westlicher Journalist Bilder vom Gwangju-Massaker im Mai 1980 aufnehmen und außer Landes bringen konnte.
Den Taxifahrer gab es, so viel ist überliefert. Ob er wirklich ein Witwer war, der weder die Miete, noch Schuhe für seine Tochter zahlen konnte, ist wohl pure Spekulation. Aber diese wird von Song Kang-ho (Memories of Murder, JSA, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) wieder mal großartig gespielt. Wie er sich immer wieder empört, sobald er sich überführt fühlt und sich trotz allem, was sein Leben und…
Watched on Blu-ray released by Well Go USA. South Korea's submission to the Foreign Language Film Award of the 90th Annual Academy Awards. Heard alot about this film when over in Korea. Had a real impact on audiences from what I've heard.
Song Kang-ho is once again fantastic as well as the entire cast which includes Thomas Kretschmann. Very high production value. And strong heart-strings tugging score by Young-wook Jo. Interesting mix of tones.
Will remind you of Argo, Amelie, Salvador and even Dunkirk. Would make for a great double feature with The President’s Last Bang.
butter cookie tins are good for food, sewing materials, AND hidden footage of war crimes
As far as political events go upon Korea’s history, I am pretty much ignorant of the steps and tragedies that have been taken to have gotten to this point. Hun Jang’s A Taxi Driver goes back to the Gwangju Uprising that took place in 1980 where martial law was declared after the assassination of Chung-hee Park - a fact that I researched prior to writing this review. As protesters begin to rise, many of which were young university students, Gwangju was in lockdown with all of its entry/exit points barricaded and guarded, covering the scandal of its climbing deaths caused by excessive force from the South Korean army.
A German reporter, Peter (Thomas Kretschmann), desires to capture the happenings taking…
Five long, highly anecdotal, and wildly bipolar takeaways from A Taxi Driver:
1. Song Kang-ho truly deserves the international attention that he’s finally receiving, and it warms my heart that people around the world are now familiar with the hilarious mannerisms of the stereotypical Korean ajusshi archetype: a persona he perfectly embodies in nearly every role he’s ever played.
Though an ajusshi strictly translates to “middle aged man”, the term, which can be used interchangeably in contexts of endearment or condescension, carries an avuncular connotation: in that it resembles the associations we have with the ‘uncle’ epithet in the West.
About three months into my five year tenure in Korea, I met an ajusshi named Jae-il while hiking. Quickly, we…
BEST FILM OF 2017.
There's a moment during this film where Song Kang ho's character had to choose between the right thing and the easy thing. He went for the former and it made all the difference. Here's hoping whenever life puts us in that situation, we do the same.
As I said before, this is the BEST film of 2017. I don't think anything would come close. Song Kang ho is the best actor in the world right now. If you want to know why, go straight to 1:54:10 of the film run time. That would do it.
The cinematography is so exquisite. The design of car is such that it's of green color and it has to go…
A Taxi Driver hat mich mehrfach emotional gebrochen. Die Leichtfüßigkeit, mit der er beginnt. Die tonalen Sprünge, die Charakterentwicklungen, die schweren Entscheidungen, die Schicksalsschläge. Und als wäre das alles nicht genug, wird einem immer vor Augen geführt, dass sich das Gezeigte wirklich abgespielt hat. Und aus dieser wahren, unglaublichen Geschichte, kreiert Jang Hoon einen so mitreißenden, intensiven und vor allem menschlichen Film, dass man kaum weiß, wohin mit den eigenen Gefühlen. Und würde der Film das nicht ohnehin schon gut genug machen, gibts dann noch die Originalaufnahme von Jürgen Hinzpeter im Abspann als herzzerreißenden Ausklang.
----------------------------------
A Taxi Driver broke me emotionally several times. The light-footedness with which it begins. The tonal leaps, the character developments, the difficult decisions, the…
Fuck you Scorsese, you little dweeb, did your Taxi Driver help dismantle the propaganda of the South Korean government during the Gwangju Uprising? Didn't think so
Anyways holy fuck I loved this movie. It's an excellent political thriller about the Gwangju uprising, where the people of South Korea fought for democracy and were met with beatings and shootings from the military. The ever oppressive government completely stopped any accurate information on the atrocities they were committing from ever leaving the confines of Gwangju. This story is about a German journalist trying to get into Gwangju and getting the truth on camera for the world to see.
And it's all told through the perspective of a fairly apolitical guy. Or maybe…
Mein Beruf ist der, der eines Taxifahrers – soweit meine Berufsbezeichnung. Ich sehe mich eher als ein Gondoliere, ein Führer durch die Stadt, meiner Stadt. Aber eigentlich bin mehr als das, ein Zeitreisender vielleicht. Ja, das müsste hinkommen, ein Zeitreisender.
Natürlich finde ich jetzt ein paar lachende Gesichter unter euch. Selbstverständlich finde ich welche, als Taxifahrer muss ich wohl einen Knacks in der Birne haben. Doch vielleicht hört ihr mich erst einmal an, bevor ihr mich als Spinner abtut gefangen gehalten im Korsett der Gesellschaft. Vielleicht komme ich der Wahrheit näher wie ihr denkt, für möglich hält. Also beginnen wir damit, euch eines Besseren zu belehren.
Von 1858 bis 1947 regierte die Britische Regierung Indien, das…
Very cute. I love Song. A little corny when it was like the rise of the taxi drivers.
The film is yet another one I wouldn't have been aware of had it not been for Letterboxd, where they put it on my radar. And boy, were expectations really met.
Taking a rather Kiarostami-like approach, the film tells the story of a German reporter and a taxi driver who get involved in a massacre in a village in South Korea that was taken over by a group of civilians during the Chun Doo-hwan dictatorship in the 1980s. The film does an excellent job in balancing this silly humour with the reality of the situation in which it is set. Director Jang Hoon provides us with moments of real tension, as in the third act or before, in the middle…
Don't watch this movie without a box of tissues ready. Such a powerful film that celebrates ordinary people who are heroes in extraodrinary circumstances.
