Fabricated City

Fabricated City
Promotional Poster
Directed by	Park Kwang-hyun
Produced by	Kim Hyun-cheol Jang Yeong-hwan
Screenplay by	Park Kwang-hyun
Starring	Ji Chang-wook Shim Eun-kyung Ahn Jae-hong
Music by	Kim Tae-seong
Cinematography	Nam Dong-geun
Edited by	Kim Jin-oh
Production company	TPS Company
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release date	February 9, 2017 (2017-02-09)
Running time	126 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean
Box office	US$18 million[1]

Fabricated City (Hangul: 조작된 도시; RR: Jojakdoen Doshi; lit. "Manipulated City") is a 2017 South Korean action thriller film directed by Park Kwang-hyun and starring Ji Chang-wook, Shim Eun-kyung and Ahn Jae-hong. The film was released on February 9, 2017.^[2][3][4]

Plot

Kwon Yoo (Ji Chang-wook), formerly a national Taekwondo champion, is an unemployed youth who lives with his mother and spends most of his day playing games at an Internet Cafe. In an online First-person Shooter, his character "Captain" is highly skilled and has a group of close friends and teammates who call themselves "RESURRECTION."

After a gaming session, he finds a smartphone in the booth next to him. The phone's owner offers him money to returns the phone, so he goes to her apartment, leaves the phone, takes the money and leaves. The next day, he is arrested and accused of raping and killing an underaged girl. The evident seems irrefutable: a knife with the victim's blood was found in his house, his fingerprints and DNA was found in her apartment, and the apartment's security camera had footage of him. Following pressure from the media, the court swiftly declares him guilty, and sentences him to life imprisonment in a maximum security prison.

In prison, Kwon Yoo caught the attention of gang leader Ma Duk-su, and is beaten and raped on his first days. His mother visits him, assures him she is fighting for his freedom, and encourages him to endure. Helped by a sympathetic inmate, Kwon Yoo retrains himself and fights back, eventually beating Ma. After receiving news that his mother has committed suicide, Kwon Yoo breaks out of prison, triggering a national manhunt. He goes to the office of Min Chum-sang, the public attorney-at-law who defended him. Min gives him his mother's necklace, and says he will re-examine his case file.

Kwon Yoo is contacted by "Mr. Hairy," one of his RESURRECTION teammates. Mr. Hairy, who is actually a female hacker named Yeo-wool, takes him to her house at the city outskirt. They are soon joined by his other teammates. As it turns out, Yeo-wool researched the case, found many irregularities in the supposed "evidence," and gathered the team to help Kwon Yoo clear his name.

Yeo-wool found a pattern in several high-profile violent crimes. The "suspects" are caught very quickly, with ample incriminating evidence. In addition, there is a truck parking close to all crime scenes. The truck's license plate leads them to a junkyard, where they find men in suit loading a large cello case into an SUV and driving away. The SUV leads Kwon Yoo to a high-class apartment building. With the team's help, he infiltrates the place and finds the apartment where the case was taken to. It turns out to be the apartment of Noh Joon-young, a rising TV actor, whose body is in the case. Hiding in a corner, Kwon Yoo sees a team of "specialists" creating a crime scene, following a narrative of "rabid fan stalking, killing and embalming her idol."

Unbeknownst to Kwon Yoo, the apartment is surveilled by Min, who is the mastermind behind the framing. It is revealed that Noh's real killer is the daughter of "Chairman Chu," who hires Min to find a scapegoat. Using a massive intelligence-gathering supercomputer hidden in his apartment block, Min finds an appropriate candidate, a girl named So, and sends a team to drug her and collect her hair, saliva, blood etc which they use to fake the crime scene. Later, they will lure her to Noh's apartment and finish the narrative. Similarly, Kwon Yoo's "victim" was killed by the son of a wealthy client, and he was chosen as a scapegoat.

After tracking down So, the team bugged her phone and found Min's accomplice, the woman who called Kwon Yoo. He attempts to kidnap her at her workplace, but is ambushed by Ma's group and taken to a warehouse to be tortured. Ma was freed by Min manipulating the prison records to get rid of Kwon Yoo. Yeo-wool causes a distraction, allowing Kwon Yoo to slip away, and drives him to safety. Wondering how Ma found him, Yeo-wool finds a tracker placed in his mother's necklace. Kwon Yoo realizes Min is involved.

Using each teammate's skill set, RESURRECTION begins sabotaging Min's operation. They vandalize the crime scene, destroying their truck with a drone-delivered bomb. They drug Chairman Chu's daughter, bring her to the room with Noh's embalmed corpse, and tipped the police and media. Kwon Yoo confronts Min in his "command center." After beating Min up, he begins transferring Min's data (including surveillance footage of his victims, call logs with his client, etc) using Yeo-wool's thumb drive. Min reveals that Ma is at Yeo-wool's safehouse and has captured his teammates. Unable to wait for the data transfer, Yeo-wool rushes back in time to save his teammates.

Evading Ma's gang, Min's subordinates and the police, the group rush to a TV Station. On the way, they learn that Ma has manipulated the media into painting his whole team as a "psychotic crime ring." The team distract the pursuers, while Yeo-wool set up her equipment. Two teammates are arrested, and Yeo-wool is captured by Ma. Kwon Yoo catches up with Ma and rescues Yeo-wool, allowing her to complete the preparation. Kwon Yoo is surrounded by the police and surrenders. While Min celebrates, his command center shuts down, and he realizes Yeo-wool's thumbdrive has finished its job.

With the massive amount of evidence found in Ma's computer, the team put together a presentation. They block the TV Station's regular broadcast and begin presenting the facts, detailing Min's involvement, his clients and how they framed their victims. Min is arrested, although it is implied there is a greater force behind him.

Kwon Yu is cleared of all charges and let go. In the final scene, the group is at a gathering, chatting and eating happily.

Cast

Production

The film marks director Park Kwang-hyun's return after directing the hit film Welcome to Dongmakgol 12 years ago.^[9] The film also marks Ji Chang-wook's film debut as lead actor.^[10]

Filming began on July 1, 2015 in Yongsan, Seoul, South Korea and finished on December 29, 2015 in Seoul.^{[11][12][13][14]}

According to CJ Entertainment will be opening in 31 countries including five where it will be distributed directly by CJ. The film was sold to 26 regions at the European Film Market held during the Berlin International Film Festival. The film will launch in Australia and New Zealand in February, Hong Kong in March, Malaysia in April and Thailand in May. It will also be shown in Taiwan, Italy and India, Vietnam, Indonesia and North America.^[15]

Reception

The film topped local box office and surpassed 1 million admissions on its opening weekend.^[16] The Hollywood Reporter praised the film for its action scenes but called the plot ungainly. Similarly, Screen Anarchy called the film a mediocre piece hidden behind big-budget thrills.^[17][18]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Fabricated City at HanCinema
• Fabricated City on Naver
• Fabricated City on Daum
• Fabricated City on IMDb
• Fabricated City at Rotten Tomatoes