‘Oldboy’ Choi Min-sik to return to big screen as genius mathematician

Korean actor Choi Min-sik is returning to the big screen for the first time in three years as a genius mathematician in “In Our Prime” directed by Park Dong-hoon.

The historical drama “Forbidden Dream” which was released in 2019 was actor Choi’s most recent work.

Director Park’s new film started shooting in March 2020 and was originally set to be released during the first quarter last year. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it had had to delay its opening date indefinitely.

The film’s distributor Showbox on Monday finally confirmed that “In Our Prime” will hit local theaters on March 9.

In “In Our Prime,” Choi plays Lee Hak-sung, who works as a school’s security guard but is actually a mathematical genius that defected from North Korea. Hak-sung meets Ji-woo (Kim Dong-hwi), a student that is having a hard time fitting in at school due to his different social background.

After finding out about Hak-sung’s talent, Ji-woo asks Hak-sung to teach him math. Although reluctant at first, Hak-sung eventually agrees to teach Ji-woo. Through the lessons, they become close with each other. But one day, Ji-woo is framed for an incident in school and Hak-sung is at risk of having his past secrets revealed.

The film distributor highlighted that the audience would be able to watch Choi act in a North Korean accent again, 22 years after it made an appearance in director Kang Je-gyu’s film “Shiri,“ which is about espionage between the two Koreas.

The veteran actor’s storied 33-year career is marked by numerous hit films, such as Park Chan-wook’s iconic 2003 film, “Oldboy,” Kim Jee-woon’s “I Saw the Devil,” Park Hoon-jung’s “New World” and Kim Han-min’s “The Admiral: Roaring Currents.”

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)