Cinematical

Chalk up another deal for IFC Films at Cannes. In addition to their acquisition of distribution rights for Josh Safdie's indie comedy The Pleasure of Being Robbed, Arnaud Desplechin's acclaimed drama A Christmas Tale (Un conte de Noël), Olivier Assayas' family drama Summer Hours and Russian dramatic fairy tale Mermaid (which I wrote about here and here), they have picked up all North American rights to an Asian serial-killer thriller that screened as one of the Cannes Midnight selections this past Saturday night.

According to indieWIRE, Na Hong-jin's The Chaser (Chugyeogja) "tells the story of a detective turned pimp who finds himself in trouble when several of his girls disappear without paying him." The film was released in its native South Korea in February and was a good-sized hit. IFC Films has not yet announced whether The Chaser will get a theatrical release or head directly to the company's video on demand service. More information is available at the Korean-language official site, including a trailer.

David Hudson at GreenCine Daily gathered links to the first few reviews out of Cannes, which give away the basic structure of the film, so beware if you want to enter cold. The reviewers basically agreed that The Chaser shows a lot of promise for a first-time director, but whether it fully delivers is a different matter. Several noted the extreme, grisly violence. Remake rights have already been snapped up by Warner Brothers, which Monika Bartyzel wrote about in March.