A Hard Day
{{About||the song|Hard Day|the 2021 film|A Hard Day (2021 film)}}
{{Infobox film
| name = A Hard Day
| image = A Hard Day 2014.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| native_name = {{Infobox Korean film name
| hangul = 끝까지 간다
| rr = Kkeutkkaji Ganda
| mr = Kkŭtkkaji Kanda}}
| director = Kim Seong-hun
| writer = Kim Seong-hun
| starring = Lee Sun-kyun
Cho Jin-woong
| cinematography = Kim Tae-seong
| editing = Kim Chang-ju
| music = Mok Young-jin
| producer = Cha Ji-hyeon
Jang Won-seok
| distributor = Showbox
| studio = AD406
Dasepo Club
| released = {{film date|2014|5|18|Cannes|2014|5|29|South Korea}}
| runtime = 111 minutes
| country = South Korea
| language = Korean
| gross = {{USD|24.1 million}}
}}
A Hard Day ({{ko-hhrm|끝까지 간다||Kkeutkkaji Ganda}}; lit. "Take It to the End") is a 2014 South Korean action thriller film written and directed by Kim Seong-hun, and starring Lee Sun-kyun and Cho Jin-woong.{{cite web|title=Second Time Lucky for Obscure Korean Film Director|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/05/21/2014052101810.html|work=The Chosun Ilbo|accessdate=2014-05-22|date=21 May 2014}}{{cite web|last1=Im|first1=Ju-ri|title=A Hard Day director's last chance for success|url=http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2990245|website=Korea JoongAng Daily|accessdate=2014-06-07|date=7 June 2014}}{{cite web|first1=Andrew|last1=Heskins|title=Kim Seong-hun interview: "Maybe we should change it to Hard Days"|url=http://www.easternkicks.com/features/kim-seong-hun-interview-maybe-we-should-change-it-to-hard-days|website=Eastern Kicks|accessdate=2015-06-12|date=16 October 2014}}{{cite web|first1=Luke Ryan|last1=Baldock|title=LKFF 2014: THN Interviews Kim Seong Hun Concerning A Hard Day|url=http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2014/11/02/lkff-2014-thn-interviews-kim-seong-hun-concerning-a-hard-day/|website=The Hollywood News|accessdate=2015-06-12|date=2 November 2014}}{{cite web|last=Kim|first=Hee-eun|title=Two hot actors to star in new thriller|url=http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2988057|work=Korea JoongAng Daily|accessdate=2014-04-25|date=18 April 2014}} It was selected to compete in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.{{cite web|last=Chang|first=Justin|title=Cannes: Whiplash, Cold in July Set to Screen at Directors' Fortnight|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/cannes-whiplash-cold-in-july-set-to-screen-at-directors-fortnight-1201160224/|work=Variety|accessdate=2014-04-25|date=22 April 2014}}{{cite web|last=Cremin|first=Stephen|title=Directors' Fortnight adds two Asian features|url=http://www.filmbiz.asia/news/directors-fortnight-adds-two-asian-features|work=Film Business Asia|accessdate=2014-04-25|date=22 April 2014}}{{cite web|last=Conran|first=Pierce|title=Director's Fortnight to Have A HARD DAY|url=http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/jsp/news/news.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=3002|work=Korean Film Biz Zone|accessdate=2014-04-25|date=23 April 2014}}{{cite web|last1=Tae|first1=Sang-joon|title=A HARD DAY Sells to 30+ Countries|url=http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/jsp/news/news.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=3062|website=Korean Film Biz Zone|accessdate=2014-06-10|date=10 June 2014}}
Plot
Ko, a corrupt detective whose mother recently dies, learns that his squad is being investigated by internal affairs for bribery. As he drives from his mother's funeral to the station, he crashes into a homeless man wandering onto the road, killing him. Fearing manslaughter charges as he is intoxicated, Ko decides against calling the police and hides the body in his car trunk (just in time as a patrol car drives by). He returns to the funeral and hides the body inside his mother's coffin, only to realize later that the man's cell phone is still in the coffin. A few days later, to Ko and his squad's relief, the internal affairs' investigation is cancelled by a lieutenant named Park.
Ko's squad is then assigned to locate and arrest a wanted murderer named Lee, who Ko recognizes as the homeless man. While searching Lee's hideout, the squad meets a police officer who is investigating a hit-and-run incident. Lee's hideout is right next to the site of the collision, in view of a traffic camera. The squad examines the low-quality camera footage, noting that the model of the colliding car is the same as Ko's. The triangulation of Lee's phone points to the area near Ko's mother's grave.
It is revealed that the driver of the patrol car who drove past Ko after he killed Lee was Park, the lieutenant who shut down the investigation into Ko's team. Although he witnessed Ko's collision, Park doesn't know where the body was. Instead of formally reporting Ko, Park blackmails him and demands possession of the body. Ko excavates the coffin, searches Lee and discovers bullet wounds on his body. Lee's cell phone receives a call from another criminal, whom Ko tracks down and interrogates. The criminal reveals that Park stole a large amount of confiscated cocaine. However, after storing his profits in a private vault, Lee stole the key and escaped. Park shot Lee and was chasing him when he was hit by Ko's car. When asked about the key, Ko finds out that anything important was always kept with Lee on his body.
Ko returns to the grave site and locates the key, but is arrested by his subordinate, who tailed him after discovering that Ko's car was damaged immediately after the time of Lee's death. The subordinate is killed when Park uses a crane to drop a shipping container onto his car. Ko gets ready to report on Park and turn in himself as well, but Park threatens to kill Ko's sister and daughter. Ko steals an explosive from the police basement and inserts it into Lee's body. He gives the body to Park and detonates the explosive, blasting Park's van off a bridge into a lake. Ko returns to his apartment and gets ready to report his crimes, but is attacked by Park, who survived the explosion. Park accidentally shoots and kills himself while trying to dislodge a revolver from a fallen bookshelf. Senior police officials decide to cover up Park's and Ko's crimes to protect their own reputations. Ko chooses to resign, and accesses Park's private vault using the key from Lee's body. He discovers an enormous reserve of cash, more than he could have imagined.
Cast
{{castlist|
- Lee Sun-kyun as Detective Ko Gun-su
- Cho Jin-woong as Lieutenant Park Chang-min
- Shin Jung-geun as Chief
- Jung Man-sik as Detective Choi Sang-ho
- Shin Dong-mi as Gun-su's younger sister
- Kim Dong-young as Detective Do Hee-chul
- Park Bo-gum as Officer Lee Jin-ho
- Joo Seok-tae as Detective Nam
- Heo Jung-eun as Mina
- Lee Jae-won as Jo Neung-hyun
- Jo Ha-seok as Lee Gwang-min
- Yoo Soon-woong as Funeral home director
- Lee Jang-yoo as Coffin rites instructor
- Jung Woo-hyuk as Funeral home security guard
- Byun Jung-hye as Funeral home female employee
- Jang In-sub as Officer Lee Dong-yun
- Bae Yoo-ram as Officer Shin Hyun-jin
- Kim Kyung-beom as Senior officer at DUI checkpoint
- Kim Seung-hoon as Taxi driver
- Kim Kang-hyun as Young-chul
- Song Young-gyu as Team leader of internal affairs
- Lee Ji-hoon as Officer in charge of police armory
- Nam Kyeong-eup as High ranking police official
- Kim Hae-gon as Piggybank owner
- Baek Jong-hwan as Piggybank employee
}}
Reception
The film debuted to stellar reviews at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival in the Director's Fortnight sidebar, where it was praised by critics as a well-made thriller with unrelenting suspense and flashes of humor. Upon its release in South Korea on May 29, 2014, at first it didn't attract much attention or hype, with a lackluster 80,000 ticket sales on its opening day.{{cite web|title=Hard Day Steadily Draws Viewers|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/07/04/2014070401538.html|website=The Chosun Ilbo|accessdate=2014-07-04|date=4 July 2014}} But through strong word of mouth from viewers, A Hard Day began an unexpectedly popular run at the box office, placing second place for four weeks behind Hollywood blockbusters X-Men: Days of Future Past and Edge of Tomorrow. It also outperformed other local noir thrillers with bigger stars, such as Man on High Heels and No Tears for the Dead. A Hard Day quickly reached its break-even point, garnering 1.6 million admissions 11 days after its release, and by its sixth week had drawn 3.08 million admissions.{{cite web|last1=Ha|first1=Sung-tae|title=Box Office: May 29 - June 11, 2014|url=http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/jsp/news/reports.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=281|website=Korean Film Biz Zone|accessdate=2014-06-30|date=16 June 2014}}{{cite web|last1=Baek|first1=Byung-yeul|title=A Hard Day defies predictions at the box office|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/culture/2014/06/141_159574.html|website=The Korea Times|accessdate=2014-06-30|date=22 June 2014}}{{cite web|last1=Conran|first1=Pierce|title=Box Office: June 12 – 25, 2014|url=http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/jsp/news/reports.jsp?mode=VIEW&seq=282|website=Korean Film Biz Zone|accessdate=2014-06-30|date=30 June 2014}}{{cite web|title=A Hard Day racks up ticket sales, Lee Seon-kyun reflects on its success|url=http://www.dramabeans.com/2014/06/a-hard-day-racks-up-ticket-sales-lee-seon-kyun-reflects-on-its-success/|website=Dramabeans|accessdate=2014-06-30|date=22 June 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2014/film/news/transformers-4-holds-on-to-korean-box-office-lead-1201258486/|title=Transformers 4 Holds on to Korean Box Office Lead|first=Patrick|last=Frater|date=7 July 2014|accessdate=2014-07-07|work=Variety}} At the end of its run, A Hard Day had grossed {{USD|24,171,936}} from 3,450,305 tickets sold.{{cite web|title=A Hard Day (2014)|url=http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/jsp/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20130442|website=Korean Film Biz Zone|accessdate=2015-06-12}}
Awards and nominations
Remakes
The film has been remade in China as Peace Breaker (2017),{{cite news|last=Kerr|first=Elizabeth|date=November 14, 2017|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/peace-breaker-film-review-1057917/|title='Peace Breaker': Film Review|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=March 4, 2022}} in the Philippines as A Hard Day (2021),{{Cite web|url=https://www.gmanetwork.com/entertainment/showbiznews/news/83286/dingdong-dantes-john-arcilla-join-forces-for-mmff-2021-film/story|title=Dingdong Dantes, John Arcilla join forces for MMFF 2021 film}} in France as Restless (2022),{{cite news|last=Grater|first=Tom|date=March 30, 2021|url=https://deadline.com/2021/03/netflix-4-french-productions-lost-bullet-sequel-1234724316/|title=Netflix Unveils 4 New French Productions Including 'Lost Bullet' Sequel & 'A Hard Day' Remake|work=Deadline|access-date=March 4, 2022}} and in Japan as Hard Days (2023).{{cite news|url=https://eiga.com/news/20221125/2/|script-title=ja:岡田准一VS綾野剛！ 藤井道人監督、韓国映画「最後まで行く」をリメイク|work=Eiga.com|language=ja|date=November 25, 2022|access-date=December 6, 2022}} In 2020, Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan and his company Red Chillies Entertainment bought the rights to a Hindi-language remake of the film.{{cite news|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/entertainment-news-shah-rukh-khans-film-with-raj-dk-a-remake-of-a-hard-day/346867|title=Shah Rukh Khan's Film With Raj & DK A Remake Of A Hard Day|work=Outlook India|language=en|date=February 6, 2020|access-date=July 26, 2023}} A 26-chapter webtoon adaptation was exclusively serialized on Manta from September 18 to December 20, 2022. {{cite news|url=https://manta.net/en/series/a-hard-day?seriesId=1955|work=Manta|language=en|date=September 18, 2022|access-date=November 27, 2023 |title=A Hard Day - Official Comics | Manta }}
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- {{official website|http://끝장리뷰.com/}} {{in lang|ko}}
- {{kmdb film|13861|A Hard Day}}
- {{IMDb title|3697626|A Hard Day}}
- {{hancinema film|A_Hard_Day|A Hard Day}}
{{Lee Hae-jun}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hard Day, A}}
Category:2014 action thriller films
Category:2014 crime thriller films
Category:2014 black comedy films
Category:2010s Korean-language films
Category:South Korean black comedy films
Category:South Korean neo-noir films
Category:South Korean action thriller films
Category:South Korean crime action films
Category:South Korean crime thriller films
Category:Films about the illegal drug trade
Category:Films directed by Kim Seong-hun
Category:2014 crime action films