User reviews

Watched a lot of South Korea cinema, even been there a few times. Had no idea of the events in 1980 depicted in this film. Incredible and inspiring the lengths people will go to for freedom and fairness. As ever, it all worked out quite well - it usually does, keep fighting for what you believe in: democratically diverse and open societies where you can fearlessly voice your views without consequence, they're worth fighting for.

1980. The movie starts harmless. A widowed taxi driver in Seoul struggling to make ends meet for himself and his little daughter. He more or less wants to do the right thing in a country where circumstances aren't all that well but you can live your life. The movie pulls a few heartstrings here and there but never too much. It is surprisingly tactful and the director wisely steps back from the story and lets good actors paint a picture of everyday life.

Enter a German reporter who smells a good story after being tipped off by a BBC colleague who tells him that the generally tense situation in South Korea somehow got worse recently. He needs a driver and the taxi driver needs the money. It is a relation out of necessity and neither of them actually seem to take a liking to each other.

Both soon have to come to terms with the fact that they put themselves into a situation which has great relevance to their country and their professions. Turning away just isn't possible. "Doing the right thing" means that an average person has to find extraordinary courage.

I have to commend the director and his actors for this eyewitness feeling. It is almost like you're another passenger sitting in that little taxi. You don't watch a movie but you are actually there as it happens. The fact that I was largely ignorant of those events in history makes this movie even more significant.

The end result is a movie which is well-directed, with competent acting and impressive camera work. I had very little to criticize but a lot to think about when I left the show and that -to me- often is the sign of a truly good movie. Go see it!

I've been watching Korean movies for a long time now, and this is just another amazing work of art from Korea. Great acting, Song is one of my favorite actors, he is amazing in this movie, but all the cast is to be praised. The story is very well told, it grips you to the screen from start to finish and it is not a small movie. I knew part of the troubled history of Korea by i had no idea this massacred ever existed. The way the director gets us there is no short of an amazing accomplishment, you never feel the movie is too long or just going trough the motions, it involves you in the story, you really feel like you are there.

Seriously,I have no more tears. If well this is a film based on real facts, I think it's reflects at a good way how hard are this historical processes. Song Kang Oh shines like always. Great performance!

In China, we had the same movement, but we failed. We still live in the control of Chinese Communist Party. Why did we fail in 4th June 1989? What should we do for our freedom?

On May 18, 1980, the Gwangju incident in South Korea hoped to cover the truth through a news blackout, however, October 7, 2017 It's ironic that a region wants to block the film to prevent a memory of the 80s.

The truth of history can not be verified, just as we can not feel the emotions of the parties or their families, because the facts we now know may not be fully aware of the truth of the year, but what happened can not be forgotten It is now in what form is presented.

Kang-ho Song is a widowed driver with a young daughter, just scraping by. When an opportunity comes up to drive a foreign reporter to a small city under martial law for 100,000 won, he takes it. On the way, he discovers that South Korea is a dictatorship that people are being killed for no good reason, and that ordinary people have standards of ethical behavior, even taxi drivers.

It's a beautifully made combination of staged and stock footage. Thomas Kretschmann, playing the German reporter, looks a lot like the man his character is based on, although handsomer in a Liam-Neeson way. The way it portrays ordinary people rising to the moment is well done. If, like many a South Korean movie I have seen, it seems more violent than other national cinemas, then perhaps that is a salient feature of the national industry.

A Taxi Driver is a film you should not miss. It is based on real events and it is impossible to stay indifferent when watching it. To be perfectly honest, I was not aware of the tragic events at the protests in South Korea in 1980. The complete disregard for human life will send shivers down your spine. It is impossible to understand why humanity never learns anything from its darkest mistakes. Throughout the history, similar things have happened and will unfortunately continue to happen in the future for sure. The story of the two main characters is inspiring. They risked their lives to bring truth to the world. You really get to care and root for them until the end. The acting is top-notch; wonderful, natural performances from everyone. And if you are an emotional person, the ending will definitely bring tears to your eyes. Strongly recommended.

Acting is incredible. Story is emotional. I typically shay away from foreign language films as I do not have the attention span go watch and read simultaneously for 2 hours. But this film had me captured the entire time. From beginning to end. I found myself crying and laughing at the same time. It managed to inject humor into a very tragic incident. I would implore people who do not speak Korean to give this film a watch, you will not be disappointed

Jang Hun studies the dynamic of Kim Man-Seob (Kang-ho Song) and Jürgen Hinzpeter (Thomas Kretschmann) in his film A Taxi Driver (2017) which unfolds in a neglected and unkempt Gwangju in the 1980s. A hefty and charismatic performance from Kang-ho Song is profoundly important in this film, a film in which, despite its many flaws, thrives on its character development and technical triumphs to create a conclusively delectable watch.

We are in South Korea in the 1980s, as an uprising takes place in Gwangju, which the general population of South Korea is oblivious to and uninformed about. We are introduced to a taxi driver by the name of Kim Man-Seob, living in Seoul, who juggles his problems one at a time, struggling to pay his rent and to keep his daughter pleased. When eating lunch at a canteen, he overhears a topic of conversation between two other taxi drivers, about a German willing to pay 100,000 won to drive him to Gwangju, deaf to the mutiny taking place in Gwangju, Kim strikes up a plan to steal this client. The German, is a journalist by the name of Jürgen Hinzpeter, due to the restrictions implemented by the government, Jürgen pretends to be a Christian missionary. After being picked up by Kim, they leave for Gwangju. After an altercation with government troops, Kim and Jürgen get into Gwangju, rampage ensues, as we follow these two characters in the Gwangju uprising, and their struggle to document, escape and help Gwangju.

Jang Hun manipulates the audience into instantly sympathizing with Kim Man-Seob when developing his background, Jang Hun inserts exposition explaining why we should commiserate with Kim. Kang-Ho Song delivers an impeccable performance that eclipses the other performances. Kang-Ho Song, who has already established himself as a luminous, grade-A actor, has once again proven the degree wherein his acting can go to.

Despite the film being based on the Gwangju uprising, the Director took it upon himself to change the story, most likely to make the story more cinematic and commercial. Jang Hun over exaggerates certain character motives and actions. Irrational behaviour and the consistency of a character's persona throughout the film shapes a supposition that it was lazily written. Riddled with discernable cliches and glaring plot holes, the writing seems to focus only on developing Kim, and doesn't develop Jürgen. Often this wouldn't be an issue, but given the amount of screen time the character receives, it is unfair for the audience to be unable to relate and sympathize with him. Side characters such as Gu Jae-sik and Hwang Tae-sul are better developed than Jürgen.

The film has outstanding production design by Yi-jin Jeong, who creates monumental period cityscape images of Gwangju and encapsulates the feeling of 1980 Gwangju faultlessly. The film is well-paced, thanks to the quick-cut editing from Jae-beom Kim and Sang-beom Kim. The tonal shifts throughout could've come across as jarring, but due to the skilful editing, the tonal shifts are smooth. The quick pacing fit the story well, as the story was anxiety-inducing. The music score, composed by Young-wook Jo accentuates this anxious feeling throughout the film, and it is extremely commendable what a sensational job he has done. He has created built up instrumentals that offer an everlasting apprehensive experience for the audience.

The cinematography throughout is noticeably innovative, beautifully constructed camera movements, inventive dialogue shots, and brilliantly justified hand-held shots. The cinematography compliments the lighting, as they come hand in hand. The lighting subconsciously brings out angst. The film is often gorgeously lit and utilizes natural light flawlessly. The niche colour palette is bright and vibrant which clashes in contrast to the harsh subject matter emphasizes the hope and faith of the character's we are following. The frame composition is expertly done and occasionally helps carry the story on visually.

Jang Hun has dealt with the subject matter competently, where it is safe and inoffensive, he's directed a technically-innovative film, in specific regards to the impeccably shot action sequences. The film fails on a story-telling front, often melodramatic and riddled with painstaking cliches, as well as has multiple plot devices to give an excuse to some of the ridiculous plotlines. It is easy to overlook these issues due to the sheer effort and talent behind this film. Predominantly enjoyable, A Taxi Driver is often unrealistic in what we see on screen but does just enough for a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

The focus of this movie is on emotional effect rather than on the Gwangju Uprising, the event it is supposed to be about.

I love this film.Korean film can always reflect the reality of Asian countries. However, this one has been banned in China, the movie-related information was disappeared from Chinese website like never exist.It's pathetic.

Watched it in a net cafe, from pirate site, cause this movie is not allowed in China for some obvious reasons. Korean fought for freedom, never gave up, they got it. Chinese fought for freedom, easily gave up, look at us now, what a crony capitalist dystopian place. The few rob the people, move all ill gotten gains and family offshore, majority remains slaves. If you dare to complain, jail time for you. Maybe Chinese had thousands of years of totalitarian history, easier to be tamed. Or compared with Korean gov, CCP gov is more violent, evil-er, had no basic moral standards: CCP officials used heavy mechanical army to crush protesters. Thousands of death during 1989 protest, big didly deal, the glorious CCP killed tens of millions before that.

Our "beloved" government just used Covid to wipe out old people, to solve pension crisis in the end of 2022. Things are getting worse day after day, year after year, bad stuff seems like will never end. Good job, Mr pooh.

Maybe we, the Chinese people, should learn something from Korean.

The lead actor is very good. This is a funny and emotional film at the same time. The story made me wonder how much of the information we get from the media is accurate and true. It also made me guilty of being passive to national conflicts that does not affect me directly.

This South Korean film is a fictionalised view into the experiences of german reporter Jürgen Hinzpeter (who died in 2016) and driver Kim Sa-bok (unkown to the public) at the Gwangju uprising in 1980. The filmmakers tried to identify Kim Sa-bok prior to the production, but only after the films release it has surfaced that the man had died of cancer in 1984, four years after the events in the film. Knowing nearly nothing about the driver, the filmmaker tried their best to create an intruiging character, that fit the movie. The actor Song Kang-ho as well as his german counterpart Thomas Kretschmann both did great jobs and I liked their performances. The screenplay/plot is not too bad, it does a good job being both entertaining and sometimes even light-hearted, as well as handling the though and serious topic of the gwangju uprising very well. However the pacing of the movie isn't absolutely great, with the rythm of the film sometimes a bit off, so it could have also been a little shorter than 135 min. Another problem was, that although I know about the history, for me personally this tragedy hasn't been translated well enough onto the movie. Objectively they handeled the tragedy well, but I was left a little bit cold. That being said I did enjoy the film and would rate it 7.5 if i could.

This movie is a sharply directed moving and entertaining movie. A struggling In Seoul taxi driver takes a German reporter to Gwangju. The pro democracy riots and massacre unfold and you see things from his point of view. You really feel for the driver played by the great Korean actor from Parasite. The massacre scenes are quite moving and shocking.

By the end you will probably realise that some of the story regarding the escape is made up for dramatic purposes. But it doesn't matter. This is one movie where the dramatic licence is justified. It's a very entertaining touching and meaningful movie.

Despite my title to this review, the movie itself is good, but that's as far as I'd go. Is it a masterpiece and a must see film when South Korea has produced much better gems? Not at all! I envy people who can watch these cliched/generic filmed movies, see it 1000 times over and not realize how painfully over-dramatic the movie is trying to be. On top of that the soundtrack for this movie is AWWWWWFFFFUUULLLL. You do not need to use loud strings and blaring music every time something important happens. For the love of god, let a viewer interpret a scene on their own without making the music convey what we're supposed to be feeling every time we watch it unfold. The music took me out of so many scenes and the chases/violence particularly when they were on the rooftops were so cliched it was laughable. If it wasn't for the sound acting, and some genuinely well done camera work, and pacing. If it wasn't for that, this movie would be much lower on my rating. It's vastly overrated by people here that don't seem to watch anything besides one foreign movie and think it's profound just because it has a message. Real shame because this had massive potential but it was so melo-dramatic to the core that it's hard to take serious just like another overrated pile of mess A Train to Busan but this was at least much better than that.

This film tells the story of a widowed taxi driver who picks up a well paid job without knowing what it is about. He travels to a region in riot, witnessing horrors and tragedies he could not have imagined.

"A Taxi Driver" starts off comedic, as the taxi driver uses every way to make ends meet. As the scenes of riot unfolds, the film intensely engages my attention. The senseless massacre of civilians is very sad. It is a very powerful story that will drive anyone to tears.

This is a story of a man with little heroic virtues unleashes his true self, and become a nameless hero. The fact that the journalist was unable to track the taxi driver down was particularly powerful. This film is as good as people say it is, and more.

Although the film is expertly directed and written, and contains yet another impressive performance by Song Kang-ho and many other familiar faces of the Korean film industry, its significance lies more in its telling of our world's all too recent history of political corruption and government-fueled massacre in the city of Gwang-ju, South Korea in May of 1980.

The film may also be relevant today in the US, when tensions between people and the government over the needless deaths of individuals at the hands of police officers have caused major riots and protests across the country. This film begs the question of credibility in what the government tells it's people.

While traveling in South Korea, I practically stumbled across the memorial in Gwang-ju, and was amazed to find that it happened so recently. Young people NEED to know that stuff like this still happens, that it's not simply dates we read about in "ancient" history. Please do not let the gore and brutality of the film deter you from watching. It is that way for a reason. The reality of our world is bloody and cruel, but this film also gives us a glimpse of hope; that there are some willing to give there lives for a just cause, and through the perspective of these characters, we are carried through an amazingly heartfelt film-watching experience.

The history must to be remembered. For such history must be repeated again.