Innocence (2020 film)

Innocence is a 2020 South Korean drama film written and directed by Park Sang-hyun. The film stars Shin Hye-sun, Bae Jong-ok, and Heo Joon-ho. It follows a lawyer who defends her mother on trial for murder.

Innocence was theatrically released on June 10, 2020. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances of the cast.

Plot
Jung-in, an ace lawyer at a law firm, hears the news of her father Tae-su's death late, but does not go to the funeral. A few days later, Jung-in hears shocking news on TV. At her father's funeral held at her hometown, she heard that pesticides were detected in the makgeolli that mourners drank, that village elder Mr. Ji died, and that Mayor Choo and three others were in critical condition. In addition, she is shocked to learn that the person arrested as a suspect is her mother, Chae Hwa-ja.

Cast

 * Shin Hye-sun as Ahn Jung-in
 * Bae Jong-ok as Chae Hwa-ja
 * Heo Joon-ho as Mayor Choo
 * Hong Kyung as Ahn Jung-soo
 * Tae Hang-ho as Yang Wang-yong
 * Ko Chang-seok as Seedsman
 * Park Chul-min as Hwang Bang-younh
 * Kim Su-hyeon as law firm vice president
 * Cha Soon-bae as Na Il-jung
 * Jung In-gyeom as Public prosecutor Shin
 * Han Yi-jin as Choi Seok-goo
 * Shin Cheol-jin as Ji Young-deok

Special appearances

 * Kim Young-jae as Director Park
 * Kim Suk-hoon as Lim Choon-woo
 * Park Sung-geun as law firm representative
 * Bae Hae-sun as Mayor Choo's wife
 * Park Jin-young as High Court judge

Casting
On November 8, 2018, actresses Shin Hye-sun and Bae Jong-ok were confirmed to star in the courtroom film Innocence. Han Yi-jin was confirmed to have joined the cast on December 11, followed by Tae Hang-ho on December 12.

The film marks Shin Hye-sun's first major role in a film. She revealed that one of the reasons why she chose this film is because her father advised her to. She added that "such female-led legal dramas are not common these days, and [her] fans wanted [her] to play the role of a lawyer someday due to [her] clear diction." Shin used Elizabeth Sloane (the main character of the 2016 American film Miss Sloane, played by Jessica Chastain) as a source of inspiration while preparing for her role.

Bae Jong-ok chose to play Jung-in's mother "out of thirst for an acting transformation" as her character looks 30 years older than her. She also accepted to play in the film because she "wondered how complicated and twisted relationships between neighbors can get if their respective families have a history between them."

According to director Park Sang-hyun, the role of the mayor could only be played by Heo Joon-ho as the character "is rumored to have perfectly pulled off a double-faced man full of greed and corruption."

Filming
Principal photography began on December 3, 2018 and filming was completed on February 28, 2019.

Release
The film was originally set to be released on March 5, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, promotional events were cancelled and the distributor decided to postpone the release to May 27. After a new cluster emerged in central Seoul in mid-May, the release was pushed back to June. On May 22, it was announced that the film would hit theaters on June 11. On June 4, it was announced that the film would be released one day earlier, on June 10.

Box office
The film topped the South Korean box office during its opening weekend, with an estimated 203,000 moviegoers. It surpassed 500,000 ticket sales the following week.