A HARD DAY (KKEUT-KKA-JI GAN-DA) Midnight

The gripping first scene of director Kim Seong-Hun’s gem of moral relativism throws us into Detective Ko’s first of many hard days. He is speeding back from his mother’s funeral in an attempt to hide incriminating evidence at his precinct when he hits a man with his car — but the victim is a criminal with a web of dangerous connections and, before long, Ko finds himself up against a malevolent, diabolical villain. Kim’s smartly plotted script uses dark comedy to build suspense, shocking stunts to keep the viewer on edge and a brawling finale to satisfy all the mayhem it’s set up. A HARD DAY is cleverly executed, with the sharp, brutal style characteristic of the recent wave of exhilarating Korean crime pictures. It will have you rooting for a dirty cop pitted against an even dirtier one.