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Helpless (2012 film)

2012 South Korean film From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Helpless (2012 film)
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Helpless (Korean: 화차; RR: Hwacha) is a 2012 South Korean psychological thriller film written and directed by Byun Young-joo based on the bestselling novel All She Was Worth (火車) by Japanese writer Miyabe Miyuki.[2][3] The original title, Hwacha, ("Kasha" in Japanese) means "fire cart," and refers to a train to hell from Japanese folklore. Passengers can only board but not get off.[4]

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A man searches for his fiancée who vanished without a trace, only to discover dark, shocking truths about her.[5][6][7]

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Plot

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South Korea, 2009. A few days before their wedding, veterinarian Jang Mun-ho (Lee Sun-kyun) and his fiancee Kang Seon-yeong (Kim Min-hee) pull over for coffee at a motorway rest stop on the way to visiting his parents in Andong, southeast of Seoul. However, when Mun-ho returns to the car, Seon-yeong has disappeared and is not reachable on her mobile phone. All he can find is a hairpin in the rest stop's toilet. From the mess at her flat in Seoul, it looks as if there has been a break-in. Mystified, Mun-ho then learns from a banker friend, Dong-woo (Kim Min-jae), that Seon-yeong had earlier applied for a bank account but had been turned down when it was discovered she had a history of personal bankruptcy dating back to 2007. Investigating her debt history, Mun-ho finds she had been using someone else's name and identity. He persuades his cousin, Kim Jong-geun (Jo Sung-ha), a former police detective sacked for taking bribes, to help find her. Examining her flat, Jong-geun finds she left no fingerprints, had no friends and claimed her mother died two years before. It then turns out that the woman (Cha Soo-yeon) whose identity she assumed two years before had a debt history and had vanished. Visiting Seon-yeong's hometown, Jong-geun hears rumors she killed her mother for the insurance money. Seon-yeong's real name is, in fact, Cha Gyeong-seon, and Jong-geun and Mun-ho realize Gyeong-seon is now looking to take on another woman's identity. They think they know her next target.[8]

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Cast

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Box office

Helpless debuted at No. 1 on the weekend box office, only three days after its premiere on March 8, attracting 607,463 moviegoers and grossing ₩4.7 million between March 9 and 11.[13] It topped the chart for two consecutive weeks, selling 561,666 tickets between March 16 and 18, according to KOBIS (Korean Box Office Information System).[14] It was the twelfth most-watched Korean film of 2012, with 2,436,400 tickets sold.[15][16]

Awards and nominations

2012 Baeksang Arts Awards

2012 Buil Film Awards

2012 Blue Dragon Film Awards

2012 Korean Culture and Entertainment Awards

2012 Women in Film Korea Awards

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References

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