Stray Bullet Obaltan (오발탄)

Obaltan (오발탄) The Aimless Bullet or Stray Bullet 1960 Directed by Yu Hyun-mok. Starring: Choi Mu-ryong, Kim Jin Kyu, Moon Jeong-suk Plot based on the short novel by Yi Beomseon. It has been called the best Korean movie ever made.

Plot It begins with describing a man, who lives a hard life. He has his brother, his wife and his crazy mother. The film shows their poor lives using realism. The last part of the film has an impulsive crime as its climax.

Reception The government banned Obaltan because of its downbeat depiction of life in South Korea. An American consultant to the Korean National Film Production Center saw the film and persuaded the government to release it in Seoul so that it might qualify for entry in the San Francisco International Film Festival. Director Yu Hyun-mok attended the film's premier in San Francisco in November 1963. Variety called Obaltan a "remarkable film", with “probing sympathy and rich characterizations."