A Taxi Driver

In May 1980, Seoul taxi driver Kim Man-seob is struggling to raise his young daughter alone and is deep in debt. When he learns a foreigner is offering a large sum for a round trip to Gwangju, he races to claim the fare before another driver does. The passenger is Jürgen Hinzpeter, a German journalist who intends to investigate reports that the city has been sealed off by the military. Man-seob does not know what awaits them there. What begins as a routine job becomes far more dangerous once the two arrive and find Gwangju under military control, with soldiers confronting residents and students who have taken to the streets. The driver and the reporter must find a way to get out again.

The film is directed by Jang Hoon, following his Secret Reunion and The Front Line. Song Kang-ho plays Man-seob, with Thomas Kretschmann as Hinzpeter, and Yoo Hae-jin, Ryu Jun-yeol, Park Hyeok-kwon and Choi Gwi-hwa among the supporting cast. Eom Yu-na wrote the screenplay. It draws on the real encounter between Hinzpeter and a South Korean driver during the 1980 Gwangju uprising, whose true identity was not known at the time of production, so much of the driver's life outside the city is fictionalized.

Released in August 2017, the film cost about 13 million USD and earned roughly 90 million USD worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7.9/10 from over 38,000 votes, and on TMDB 8/10 from more than 1,200 votes. A critics' rating of 7.4/10 from 30 reviews places it somewhat below the audience scores.