Midnight Screening Draws Strong Reviews
YEON Sang-ho’s much-anticipated live action debut
TRAIN TO BUSAN, following his trio of acclaimed animated features, bowed to a strong reception at the Cannes Film Festival, where it screened in the Midnight Screenings slot on Friday the 13th. Starring
GONG Yoo,
JUNG Yu-Mi,
Don LEE and
KIM Su-an, the film chronicles a zombie outbreak as it focuses on a group of characters fighting for their lives on a high-speed train down to Busan.
Reviews following the film’s premiere have been very positive, with Variety stating that TRAIN TO BUSAN “pulses with relentless locomotive momentum.” The Hollywood Reporter was complimentary of the film’s technical specs, writing that “the film establishes spatial relationships exceptionally well,” and also that “there are enough close-ups to persuade viewers that YEON and his crew have used old-school special effects, stunt people and make-up artists to enhance the realism.”
Director YEON previously went to Cannes with his debut film
The King of Pigs, which screened in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2011, and followed that up with
The Fake, a Vanguard selection of the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013. His third film
Seoul Station, which precedes the events of
TRAIN TO BUSAN, recently debuted at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.