Ryoo Seung-wan likes to keep busy. Even as his film “Escape from Mogadishu” was still ruling the box office in 2021, he was already busy shooting his next, “Smugglers”. His third period film in a row, “Smugglers” is a change of sorts for him. Where all his films are sometimes labelled as too macho, with female characters and actresses serving a secondary, almost throwaway part, “Smugglers” is the first time a Ryoo Seung-wan production is centred around female characters.
Synopsis
In 1970s, at Guncheon (a small village near sea), there were Haenyeos (women divers who are able to dive w/o equipments), including two best friends Chun-ja and Jin-sook, Jin-sook`s brother and Jangdori. They always collected seafood under water for living. But, as few factories started to be built near beach, Haenyeos started to have trouble with what they were doing for living. Without any choice, the ship crews decided to join smuggling business in water to seek a way for their living. But smuggling business in their village got too big for Jin-sook`s family to handle and the peaceful village was gradually broken.
“Smugglers” stars Kim Hye-soo and Yum Jung-ah in the lead, with Ryoo's “Escape from Mogadishu” star Jo In-sung also joining the cast alongside Park Jung-min and Go Min-si. Without an official release date yet, “Smugglers” is confirmed for a Summer 2023 release in South Korea, with a wider international release certainly guaranteed to follow.
Ryu’s early work No Blood No Tears (2002) also has two female protagonists.
Do we know which countries have international release of this film?