The Night Owl (2022 film)

The Night Owl is a 2022 South Korean period thriller drama film directed by Ahn Tae-jin, starring Ryu Jun-yeol and Yoo Hae-jin. Set in the Joseon period, it is based on the mystery surrounding the death of Crown Prince Sohyeon, who returned from the Qing Dynasty in the Joseon Injo period. It was released on November 23, 2022.

Synopsis
Kyung-soo is blind but has excellent acupuncture skills. He enters the palace after being recognized for his talent by Lee Hyung-ik. Around that time, Crown Prince Sohyeon, who was taken hostage by the Qing Dynasty, returned to Korea after 8 years. Injo, while happy for his son, is overcome with unknown anxiety for a while. Then one night, Kyung-soo, who can see faintly in the dark, witnesses the death of Crown Prince Sohyeon. As he tries to tell the truth, bigger secrets and conspiracies are revealed, putting his life at risk. After the death of his son, Injo's anxiety turns into madness and begins to run rampant, and Kyung-soo, who witnessed the death of the crown prince, attempts to reveal the truth behind the crown prince’s death.

Cast

 * Ryu Jun-yeol as Kyung-soo
 * Yoo Hae-jin as King Injo
 * Choi Moo-sung as Lee Hyung-ik
 * Jo Sung-ha as Young Eui-jeong
 * Park Myung-hoon as Man-sik
 * Kim Sung-cheol as Crown Prince Sohyeon
 * Ahn Eun-jin as Jo So-yong
 * Jo Yoon-seo as Crown Princess Minhoe
 * Lee Joo-won as Yi Seok-cheol, the eldest son of Crown Prince Sohyeon
 * Kim Do-won as Chun Kyung-jae, Kyung-soo's younger brother.

Box office
, it is the fifth highest-grossing Korean film of 2022, with a gross of US$26,395,809, and 3,317,510 admissions. On December 23, 2022, The Night Owl surpassed 3 million cumulative audiences on this afternoon. An additional 900,000 people were mobilized in two weeks after exceeding the break-even point of 2.1 million on the 8th, which led the box office for three consecutive weeks.

The film was in competition at FFCP 2023, the festival dedicated to Korean film in Paris.