This week, my cable provider in Jeonju shuffled some channels around and gave us a new station called Indiefilm. This amazing channel plays indie and short films around the clock and I have had the chance to see some fantastic movies there. But, I can’t watch movies on tv 24-hours a day…so today I went to the movie theater to see Moss–a film I have been looking forward to.  I was not disappointed. The story is engrossing with many points of tension and suspense and, best of all, the acting is all-first class. The plot is based on a long-running comic book of the same name. I had not read the comic, so I cannot compare the movie with the book, nor did I have to read the source material to appreciate and understand the film. Perhaps I enjoyed it even more for not reading the story because every twist in the plot was a genuine surprise to me.

Briefly, the story is about Yoo Hae-gook (Park Hae-il) who visits his estranged fathers house upon the elderly man’s death. There, he meets his father’s friends including Cheon Yong-deok (Jeong Jae-yeong) who seems to have the entire community scurring to do his bidding. Hae-gook suspicions are raised when everyone keeps trying to convince him to leave quickly and he comes to suspect Cheon and his cronies of perhaps killing his father. After someone breaks into his home, the young man decides to take up residence in his father’s house indefinitely much to the frustration of the villagers. Veiled threats and hinted danger quickly become reality we soon learn that everyone has secrets and perhaps nobody is whom we think they are.

I cannot praise the acting in this movie enough. All of the primary actors deliver excellent performances including Park Hae-il, Jeong Jae-yeong, Yoo Joon-sang, Yoo Seon, and Kim Sang-ho.  I really appreciated the work by Yoo Joon-sang–I loved the confidence of his character Park Min-wook who always seemed like he was challenging anyone he was speaking with to a contest to see who would blink first. But, by far, the best and most memorable perfomance is given by the vastly underrated Yoo Hae-jin who plays Cheon’s close friend and assistant. I am definitely hoping he is able to bring home a Best Supporting Actor role for this role.

I don’t want to say anything more about the movie as it just recently opened in theaters. I strongly recommend you see it when you can.