Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Prashast Singh Movie: The Attorney (15)Rating: 4.5/5Song Kang-ho: what an actor! There's no other like him. He nails it extremely well given any role or genre. In this critically and commercially successful courtroom drama, he transforms into what most protagonists of legal dramas don't usually, given the restrictions they are subjected to by the writing. The script of THE ATTORNEY or BYEONHOIN lets its protagonist stand, and has an even better character development as well. There are many reasons which make the film stand out, but Song Kang-ho is the reason enough to call this film excellent. The film has a decent storyline, and given the genre, you know what to expect. But the writing has a sweetish charm in the beginning, which continues for a longer duration. The film, of course takes its own fine time to build up the story, but it does the job by serving you with the scenes which turn out to be very engaging, inspirational and emotional as well. The screenplay gets stronger as time passes and you're hardly able to leave your seat. The film's highly engrossing and never bores for even a second.A large fraction of the film's excellence is held by Song Kang-ho. His courtroom scenes have been handled very well, and the execution is perhaps the best one for a film of this genre. After a point, it can be understood that he wasn't acting but being real: when he gets angry or emotional and delivers his dialogues with strong emotions - he isn't trying to act but straightaway speaking out his own heart. No doubt why he's one of the most respected South Korean actors. With A TAXI DRIVER this year and some more films which I saw, he became my favourite and this film only adds to more and more praise & respect towards him.The supporting cast holds its own and lends decent performances. The writing must also be praised for multiple clapworthy moments throughout. The climax is also a memorable one. Another major praise should go to the dialogues as they are another major highlight of the film. The emotions too are portrayed very well.I can't stop praising THE ATTORNEY for doing complete justice to reality as well as Song Kang-ho's acting talent.

Bryan Kluger Director Yang Woo-seok did a great job with his first outing with 'The Attorney', the South Korean flick that has gone on to be one of the biggest films in the country. The movie is based on the real events of Roh Moo-hyun, who was South Korea's ninth president, who later became an activist. The performances are top notch from everyone involved with Song Kang-ho ('The Host') giving his best performance to date. This two-hour films deserves a wider release state-side.If you were to look at the poster for the film, as you can see above, you would think that 'The Attorney' was an easy-going comedy about an underdog lawyer whose success upsets his judgmental co-workers. And this is true for the first half-hour or so of the film, but the tone oddly shifts to a rough courtroom drama. I did not quite expect that, but if you set aside the shift in genres, the performance of Song really carries this film all the way.Song Kang-ho plays Song Woo-seok , a successful lawyer who only has a high- school education, which infuriates his co-workers. It seems that he is only in the law business to make tons of cash, with no real moral compass. However, he has a change of heart when he takes on a case that involves a young man named Park Jin-woo (Lim Si-wan), a college student who was wrongfully arrested and tortured by the police for reading anti-communist books. The police set up this trial that is almost certain to convict the poor kid, which he was brutally forced to give a false confession.The movie itself as a whole is good, but once it shifts into the courtroom drama, things get a bit clichéd, and we see some events unfold that we have seen many times before. Our main character was a much more fun character to watch and be with in the first half of the movie before the moral switch, but Song pulls it off well.That being said, 'The Attorney' still tells an unrelenting story, which takes place in the 1980s about South Korea's social and political climate, which is sure to strike a chord with audiences. This is an excellent first film for Yang, and I look forward to seeing his future endeavors. This film deserves to be seen.

ctowyi The Attorney is about a self-studied lawyer who did not graduate from college. He makes a name for himself doing taxes but gradually his eyes start to open to the state of Korea's oppressive regime and he takes the fight to the National Security Act.The movie never says it is based on a true story but the events depicted have a sense of reality about it. A simple wiki told me that it is based on Roh Moo-hyun, the former South Korean president who did passionately defend the accused in 1981 and then became a notable leading figure of democratization movement since that trial. After his presidency and following tragic suicide in 2009, his name and legacy have been virtually tarnished and butchered by the local right-wing politicians including the current South Korean president. The movie doesn't depict his Presidency days onwards but focus on his days of political awakening. I remembered reading the tragic suicide in the papersbut had no idea what the man was about.The movie is not without its flaws. The transition from light comedy to full-on drama is hardly seamless (this is probably the case with most Korean films). The narrative in first act feels uneven and I wasn't sure what the focus was until it hits the second hour. Some characters also suffer from an illness of under-development. However there are two good reasons to see this. Number one is Song Kang-Ho. The actor is definitely the most dependable actor in Korean cinema. His portrayal of the shady lawyer smooths away all the rough spots and he gives the role a humility that will make your heart ache. The second reason is the superb rousing courtroom drama with lots of twist and turns.

poe426 THE ATTORNEY is must-see for anyone interested in what's happening in THIS country even as I write. The torture of suspected "communists" in THE ATTORNEY will no doubt bring to mind the very recent revelations regarding the "black site" discovered in Chicago (a place where suspected drug dealers/religious extremists/etc. were taken and tortured), as well as the facts uncovered and made known in MURDER AT CAMP DELTA, by Joseph Hickman. Song as Song THE ATTORNEY rivals Al Pacino as the idealistic lawyer in ...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL; the major delineation between the two being Song's very low-key approach (one often finds oneself, watching better-made foreign films, feeling as though one is watching a documentary) (and, in fact, this movie I found in the DOCUMENTARY section of the local library and it's listed on HULU as a documentary). The plot is vintage Kafka: members of a book club gather to read and discuss what they've read- until a government goon gets wind of it and decides to go witch-hunting; no good reason, he just does it because he's a government goon and that's what government goons DO... It's the same the world over. From MURDER AT CAMP DELTA by Joseph Hickman: "It disturbed me that I had been caught up in a system that didn't seem to follow any rules and appeared to cover its actions with misinformation and lies." The often (at first) ridiculed Song has the same outlook in THE ATTORNEY. "I believe in American justice," Hickman writes. Says Song, when it looks like he might cave in to incredible pressure: "I will never give up!" THE ATTORNEY is an affirmation of The Human Spirit, nothing less.