Tunnel (2016 film)

Tunnel
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Kim Seong-hun
Written by	Kim Seong-hun
Produced by	Billy Acumen Lee Taek-dong You Jeong-hun
Starring	Ha Jung-woo Bae Doona Oh Dal-su
Cinematography	Kim Tae-seong
Music by	Mok Young-jin Vitek Kral
Production company	B.A Entertainment
Distributed by	Showbox
Release date	10 August 2016 (2016-08-10) (South Korea)
Running time	127 minutes[1]
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean
Box office	$51.9 million[2]

Tunnel (also referred as The Tunnel; Korean: 터널 Teoneol) is a 2016 South Korean survival drama film written and directed by Kim Seong-hun, starring Ha Jung-woo in the lead role.^[3][4] The film revolves around a car salesman who gets trapped when a poorly constructed tunnel collapses, and deals with his survival inside the tunnel with the advice of the rescue team head. It was released in South Korea on 10 August 2016.^[4][5]

Synopsis[edit]

Lee Jung-soo (Ha Jung-woo) is driving home for his daughter's birthday. While driving through a tunnel through a mountain, the tunnel collapses. When Lee Jung-Soo regains consciousness, he finds himself trapped inside his car, which is buried under tons of concrete and debris. All he has inside the car are his cellphone, two bottles of water, and his daughter's birthday cake.

South Korea is horrified by the news of the collapse of a large tunnel. The government urgently sets up an accident task force. Daekyung (Oh Dal-su), the rescue captain of the accident task force, makes various attempts to enter the tunnel, but the structure is only slow. Meanwhile, Jeong-su's wife Se-hyun (Bae Doona) delivers hope to her husband through the radio, which Jung-su can only hear, and does not give up hope for his safe life. The sluggish rescue operation will eventually cause a major setback in the completion of the second tunnel nearby, and public opinion begins to divide over the survival and structure of the essence.

Production[edit]

Many audiences who watched the movie said that it was reminiscent of the Sinking of MV Sewol in 2014. However, the film was based on an original novel published before the MV Sewol incident. Director Kim Sung-hoon said in an interview, "It (sinking of MV Sewol) was such a big pain and the production team was also very sick." "Since the sadness is still valid, I couldn't help but think of the sinking of MV Sewol when I made the disaster material film, but I thought it was impossible to exclude the memory and take it." On the one hand, " one incident rather than focusing on pursuant to a huge disaster happened, and universal since the system should be run by him collapsed."and some by a man trapped in it" want to say things like dignity for the life situation."^[6]

Although ‘Tunnel’ is doing a lot of box office hits, some pointed out its regret. The somewhat optimistic attitude of ‘Tunnel’ is not realistic.^[7] It may be because after the disaster of Ferry Sewol, Korean audiences witnessed how the social system of disaster works. The director explained that he also saw such opinions. He said in an interview, "There were some opinions that want me to be more directly explained. However, I hoped that this movie would not be a movie that only people who are angry about such a disaster would watch. Some movies portray social evil and get angry with the system, and they can scratch people's emotions like that." He also continued to add the last sentence. "I wanted the movie to be more sympathetic to pain. I think what we are doing the most is the lack of ability to empathize with other people's pain."^[8]

The director added, "I put a lot of effort into organizing the tunnel set in the movie." As the inside of the collapsed tunnel continues to appear, he wanted to devise the most realistic part of the movie. "One of the words that can describe this movie is its texture. I thought the texture should not look fake. For Jeong-su, the tunnel is like an actor. The actors and the space have to give and receive reactions from each other." he said. In the set, the real concrete part and the fake part were mixed together. He made a fake one on the close side of the actor and put a real one on the real one on the far side. Fake materials are not only concrete, but also cement-finished stones. As dust powder, grain powder, charcoal powder, and jade powder were all used. It is said that it was because the actual cement powder could be dangerous if inhaled by an actor, as the dust was scattered throughout the movie.^[9]

Cast[edit]

Reception[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 15 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10.^[11] Frank Scheck of the The Hollywood Reporter praised the film for its attraction and humor, as well as for its special effects and cinematography, writing "Infusing its nightmarish scenario with bracing doses of satirical humor, Tunnel is smarter and more sophisticated than most Hollywood attempts at the genre."^[12] Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times characterized the film as "vivid" and "relatable".^[13] Jay Weissberg of Variety praised the director, Kim Seong-hun, and the actors, and wrote "much of the film’s appeal is that it tosses aside the monumental and focuses instead on character".^[14] Tom Keogh of The Seattle Times also praised the director and rated the film 3 out of 4 stars.^[15] Garry Garrison of The Playlist stated, "so, while at times it’s easy to see the great film that 'Tunnel' could have been, that never stops it from being perfectly watchable thriller that it is."^[16] Kim Yu-young of The Korea Herald praised the director and actors Ha Jung-woo, Bae Doona, and Oh Dal-su, describing them as "undeniable chemistry that is consistently palpable and carried well throughout the movie."^[17] Andrew Saroch of Far East Films described the film as "tense" and "thoughtful".^[18] The film was also reviewed by Jason Bechervaise of Screen Daily, and by Shim Sun-ah of Yonhap News Agency.^[19] The film also received a rating of 7.4 by users on Metacritic.^[20]

Awards and nominations[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Tunnel at IMDb
• Tunnel (Teoneol) (2016) at Rotten Tomatoes