SEA FOG (2014) Blu-ray
Director: Sung-bo Shim
88 Films

88 Film's "88 Asia" line takes a break from the Shaw Brothers and embraces the new South Korean genre cinema with their Blu-ray of SEA FOG.

In the midst of the IMF Asian financial crisis of 1997, fishing boat Captain Kang (Yun-seok Kim, CHASER) is going under financially, unable to catch enough to pay his crew – second-in-command Ho-young (Sang-ho Kim), drum winch duty man Kyung-koo (Seung-mok Yoo, MEMORIES OF MURDER), young and inexperienced Dong-sik (Yoo-chun Park), nominal engineer Chan-wook (Hee-joon Lee, HELPLESS), and the actual engineer Wan-ho (Seong-kun Mun) who is not on the crew list since he is hiding from debt collectors – afford fuel, or keep his unfaithful wife (who has already mortgaged their restaurant) happy. In a desperate move, he agrees to use his boat for a smuggling job only to discover that the freight will be Chinese immigrants looking for better jobs in South Korea. The initial deposit divided among the crew is enough at first to allay the crew's concerns over getting caught, but they soon find themselves in over their heads as the ship goes out in the middle of torrential weather to rendezvous with a freighter. The captain is disturbed to discover that there are two women among the immigrants who soon become the focus of the other men's interests. When the danger of being caught becomes too real, it is left to the Captain's discretion what to do with the "cargo," and the tragic events that transpire turn the ship into a hellish charnel house that brings out paranoia, madness, and ruthlessness as the crew turn on the passengers and each other as an impenetrable sea fog surrounds them and blinds them to outside dangers.

The directorial debut of SNOWPIERCER director Joon-ho Bong's regular screenwriter Sung-bo Shim (MEMORIES OF MURDER), SEA FOG is at once a seafaring chamber piece about isolation, desperation, and paranoia as well as a biting social commentary on those who are willing to anything for a better life as well as those who not only expect them to do so but are also willing to take advantage of them (including the captain who initially balks at doing something illegal). Hong-mae (Ye-ri Han, COMMITMENT) is suspicious of the seeming special attention she receives from Dong-sik who dove into the choppy waves to save her from drowning, while Yool-nyeo (Kyung-Sook Jo) is willing to do what is needed for a little comfort. The crew discovers that the rest of the passengers are just as wary of their seeming acts of benevolence and are surprised when one man stands up to what they assumed to be reasonable treatment given the circumstances by refuses to hide in the fish hold when the Coast Guard nears. The captain comes down on him hard and frightens the rest into compliance out of his own desperation, but the determination with which he carries on in the grim aftermath makes him almost worse than his crew who assume Dong-sik's motives are the same as theirs and turn against each other as though fighting over an object. While young Yoo-chun Park won a number of Asian film awards for his performance, the elder Yun-seok Kim gives the more complex characterization.

Although the film did good business theatrically in Asia and won a number of film festival awards, SEA FOG was released to DVD-only in its native South Korea (albeit a two-disc set), and a barebones DVD in the United States from Film Movement. The film's Blu-ray debut ended up hailing from France, but it was of course not English-friendly. 88 Films' Region B Blu-ray features a 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.40:1 widescreen disc comes from the same HD master, and the HD encode brings out additional depth and texture compared to the DVD. Low-lit interiors that tended to look warm and a little fat in standard definition add to the intensity of the performances on Blu-ray while the rainy and foggy scenes on deck also draw the viewer's eye past the foreground CGI rain. The digital effects hold up well with the higher resolution, with the disc's short "Visual Effects Reel" (2:02) calling more attention to the digital augmentation than the feature presentation. Besides the aforementioned reel, the only other extra is the short but informative “All About Bong: An Interview with Jean Noh” (10:33) in which the deputy Asia editor and Korea correspondent for Screen International discusses the early career of Joon-ho Bong and how the "weird guy who went around with VHS tapes" became one of South Korea's auteurs who made South Korean cinema seem like a viable industry. She also noted that the South Korean population was such that South Korean filmmakers and studios had to enforce the old screen quota law that guaranteed screen time and space to domestic productions as well as hitting the international festival circuit and establishing the Busan International Film Festival for increased visibility. The Blu-ray comes with a limited edition slipcase. (Eric Cotenas)

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