Ryu is a hearing-impared factory worker who spends his spare time with his younger sister and offbeat girlfriend. When his sister becomes dangerously ill, Ryu decides to offer her one of his kidneys, only to discover that he is not a suitable donor. Compounding his problem, he is sacked for spending too much time away from work. When all hope seems lost he receives a call from the hospital informing him that a suitable replacement kidney is available. However, he doesn't have enough money for the operation and in an act of desperation, he kidnaps his former boss' child and sets a ransom. Ryu has chosen the worst person to mess wrth, as the wronged father is a dark force and sets out with one thing on his mind—vengeance.

The latest film from Joint Security Area (MIFF 2001) director Park Chan-wook is not only a radical departure from his previous blockbuster, it is an intimate and complex psychological thriller examining how seemingly ordinary people are pushed beyond the brink of accepted behaviour.