Obaltan also known as The Aimless Bullet and Stray Bullet, is a 1960 Korean film directed by Yu Hyun-mok

Yu Hyun-mok

Yu Hyun-mok was a South Korean film director. Born in Sariwon, North Hwanghae, Korea , he made his film debut in 1956 with Gyocharo...

. The plot is based on the same titled short novel written by Yi Beomseon. It has often been called the best Korean movie ever made.

Plot

The films depicts a man, who lives a hard life together with his brother, his wife and his mentally ill mother. The film shows their poor lives realistically

Realism (arts)

Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...

. The last, climactic part of the film portrays the impulsive crime that results from these circumstances.

Reception

The government banned Obaltan because of its unremittingly downbeat depiction of life in post-armistice South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. An American consultant to the Korean National Film Production Center saw the film and persuaded the government to release it in Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

 so that it might qualify for entry in the San Francisco International Film Festival

San Francisco International Film Festival

San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...

. Director Yu Hyun-mok

Yu Hyun-mok

Yu Hyun-mok was a South Korean film director. Born in Sariwon, North Hwanghae, Korea , he made his film debut in 1956 with Gyocharo...

 attended the film's premier in San Francisco in November 1963. Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

called Obaltan a "remarkable film", and noted that its "[b]rilliantly detailed camera work is matched by probing sympathy and rich characterizations."

Quotations

The most-cited quote from the film, mentioned in the contemporary Variety review and in later texts on Korean cinema, is "Let's get outta here! Let's get outta here!"

Availability

In December 2002 Obaltan was released on Region 0

DVD region code

DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...

 DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 in South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 with English subtitles, but as of November 2007 is currently out of print. Gregory Hatanaka

Gregory Hatanaka

Gregory Hatanaka is an independent filmmaker and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, USA.-Career:Hatanaka is the founder of film distribution and production company Cinema Epoch....

's Cinema Epoch

Cinema Epoch

Cinema Epoch is an independent film distribution & production company based in the U.S. It was founded by distribution veteran and filmmaker Gregory Hatanaka. The company specializes in foreign, independent and cult cinema. The company's first release was the martial arts classic Master of the...

released the film on Region 1 DVD on March 13, 2008.