As an actress Kim Sun Ah has never been afraid of trying something different.
She was a supposedly unattractive overweight pastry chef in “My Lovely Kim Sam Soon” and then she played the slender fashionable shoe designer in “I Do I Do.” She’s done heart-wrenching melodramas as well as comedies but in her latest film role, “The Five,” she goes much darker and troubled than ever before.
Based on the popular webtoon, “The Five” relates to a group of five people who plot to take revenge on a serial killer. Kim Sun Ah plays the woman who was attacked by and lost her family to the killer. As a result of her tragedy, she’s damaged physically and mentally. Being partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair, however, does not prevent her from exacting her vengeance.
Her character Go Eun Ah, will do anything to see justice, including pledge her internal organs as a guarantee.
“Go Eun Ah is a pitiful character driven by sorrow and vengeance,” said Kim Sun Ah. “She gives up everything to get revenge.”
Kim understands how someone might be so driven because she too has a family.
“Since my family is the most important thing to me, I can relate to my character’s feelings,” she said.
Go Eun Ah may be pitiful in her desire for revenge but from the stills and the trailer, she looks pretty fierce.
“I will rip my own heart out if that’s what it takes to kill him,” is the tagline credited to her.
The film also stars Shin Jung Geum of “Secretly Grandly,” Jung In Ki of “Two Weeks,” Park Hyo Joo of “The Chaser,” Ma Daong Suk of “The Flu,” Ohn Joo Wan of “The Blade and the Petal” and Lee Chung Ah of “Wonderful Mama.”
Despite the difficulty of expressing so many negative emotions and the exhausting action scenes, Kim said she was pleased with how the film turned out.
“I am really honored have the chance to work with so many talented people,” she said. “There were many emotional scenes in the film, but the filming went smoothly because of the talented cast members.”
Fans of the webtoon are happy that Jung Yeon Shik, the webtoon’s author served as the director. Bringing the webtoon accurately to life is a responsibility that only the author might be trusted with. Before it was even published on Naver, “The Five” received an award for being the best webtoon and was called the must-read cartoon of the year.
In the film’s stills, it seems that Kim Sun Ah captures her character’s desperate look and eloquently brings her desire for revenge to life.
It will be shown in theaters on Nov. 14.