The Shameless

The Shameless (lit. "A Thug" or "A Rogue") is a 2015 South Korean neo-noir crime drama film starring Jeon Do-yeon and Kim Nam-gil. It is written and directed by Oh Seung-uk, who described it as a "hardboiled romantic noir thriller.

The Shameless made its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot
The police are staking out Park Joon-gil for the murder of Hwang Choong-nam, and jaded detective Jung Jae-gon is being pressured to close the case, particularly by his former superior Moon Ki-beom, who lost his badge for corruption. Joon-gil was once the mob enforcer for Jay Investment, but had fallen out of favor when he embezzled and stole the heart of Kim Hye-kyung, the girlfriend of the company's vice president Park Jong-ho. Jay Investment representative Min Young-ki approaches Jae-gon and offers him US$5,000 to ensure that Joon-gil is maimed during the arrest as payback. Jae-gon reluctantly agrees, but a botched arrest sends Joon-gil on the run, and Jae-gon decides the best way to find him again is by sticking with Hye-kyung, hoping she will lead him to the fugitive. Hye-kyung now works as a bar hostess to pay off her substantial debt to Jong-ho, and Jae-gon threatens his way into an undercover job as a floor manager at the nightclub she works at. Introducing himself as Joon-gil's former cellmate Lee Young-joon, Jae-gon begins to spend time with the suspicious Hye-kyung and gradually wins her trust. But when Joon-gil returns asking Hye-kyung for money for a potential deal, Jae-gon's newfound feelings of love and jealousy rise to the surface.

Cast



 * Jeon Do-yeon as Kim Hye-kyung
 * Kim Nam-gil as Jung Jae-gon
 * Park Sung-woong as Park Joon-gil
 * Kwak Do-won as Moon Ki-beom
 * Kim Min-jae as Min Young-ki
 * Oh Ha-nee as Son Min-ji
 * Park Ji-hwan as Son Kyung-soo
 * Choi Young-do as Kim Ho-gil
 * Ha Ji-eun as Han Ji-yeon
 * Kang Tae-young as Kim Jin-hyung
 * Ji Seung-hyun as Kim Dong-soo
 * Chu Gwi-jeong as Strange woman
 * Sung Seung-hyun as Drug addict
 * Shin Sam-bong as Shopkeeper
 * Ji Goon-woo as Drug dealer
 * Lee Dong-jin as Hwang Choong-nam
 * Yoo Ji-yeon as Hwang's lover
 * Jung Jae-woong as Kim Hyung-seok
 * Yoon Seung-won as Park Jong-ho
 * Jo Won-hee as Deok-ryong

Production
This is the second film Oh Seung-uk has directed, 15 years after his directorial debut Kilimanjaro (2000). Oh was a prominent screenwriter in the 1990s, having written Green Fish (1997) and Christmas in August (1998).

Lee Jung-jae was originally cast in the leading role as Jung Jae-gon, but dropped out after he was injured on the set of his 2014 film Big Match. He was replaced by Kim Nam-gil.

The Shameless began filming in June 2014.

Box office
The Shameless was released on May 27, 2015. It opened at fourth place in the box office, grossing (US$1.92 million) from 272,000 admissions in its first five days. By the end of its run, it had grossed (US$2,805,292) from 413,836 admissions.