My Name is an online South Korean crime action series directed by Kim Jin-min and starring actors Han Shao-hee, Ahn Phu-hyun and Park Hee-soon.
The story tells that Zhiyou, who was originally a simple female high school student, joined the criminal organization of her father's friend after witnessing her father being killed, and in order to find the real culprit hidden behind the scenes, she changed her name and surname to become an anti-drug policeman, trying to survive with her own faith power in the gap between the gang and the police.
Most of the general audience has a sweet, sensational or dog-blood impression of Korean dramas, but just like the "Squid Game" that triggered discussions from all walks of life a while ago, it has received many praises for its fresh and interesting themes and its discussion of human nature and social reality, which shows the strong strength of Korean film dramas in producing high-cost genre works.
And this time, "My Name", which is also produced and released by Netflix, is no exception, combining the genre elements of film noir such as police action and crime suspense, bringing the audience a completely different special experience.
"My Name" begins with a detailed introduction to the heroine Zhiyou played by Han Shaoxi. Zhiyou, who attended girls' high school, was originally just an ordinary child, but one day, she suddenly received news that her father was actually a member of a drug cartel.
Zhiyou not only became alone because her father ran away from home to avoid wanted, because the police monitored her day and night, but also let the news of her as the daughter of a gangster spread quickly, and every day she went to school and was bullied and ridiculed by her classmates.
On his birthday, Zhiyou, who could not stand this kind of life and dropped out of school, suddenly received a call from his missing father, and in the face of him, he still giggled and wished him a happy birthday, and Zhiyou angrily blamed his father for putting himself in such a situation.
After learning what happened to his daughter, the father, who was originally out of the limelight, decided to go home to appease his daughter Zhiyou's emotions despite his own danger. Unexpectedly, although the police who avoided surveillance were shot by masked killers in front of their homes, all this was witnessed by a wise friend who was separated by a door.
Through a beach vacation scene, "My Name" makes us clearly see that because of the early death of his mother, Zhiyou and his father are dependent on each other, and they have a deep emotional and close relationship with each other, but now these beauties are dissipated in an instant.
Zhiyou, who believes that his willfulness led to his father's death, hopes to avenge him but cannot find the murderer, and he does not have the strength, so he finds his father's friend Cui Wuzhen, who was the boss of the drug trafficking syndicate "Dongchuan Faction", and asks him to take him in and carry out intensive physical fitness and fighting training.
I like the background of the story and the foreshadowing of the role of Zhiyou played by Han Shaoxi in "My Name". From finding a suitable fighting method as a woman, not comparing strength but attacking skills, and defeating men who want to drug him, to Zhiyou changing her name to Wu Huijin after learning that the prisoner who killed her father was a policeman, changing her name to Wu Huijin to train at the police academy and becoming an undercover agent lurking in the police station, "My Name" highlights zhiyou's growth and changes in her heart's desire for revenge.
As a Korean drama of the film noir genre, "My Name" focuses on the story after Zhiyou became an anti-drug policeman, while following the squad to investigate the drug trafficking syndicate, while secretly providing intelligence to the organization and investigating the truth about the murder of his father, the whole work plot is tortuous, the rhythm is fast and compact, through the police crime story with strong gangster color, in addition to creating a strong sense of suspense and horror, it also brings out the motivation and humanity of each character.
In addition to Zhiyou who hides his identity, whether it is the gang boss Choi Wu-jin who assigns Zhiyou to be undercover, the police officer Quan Bi-do, who has a strong sense of justice, the group leader Cha Qihao, who is expelled from the organization by the boss and later becomes the most impressive villain of the show, Du Jiangcai, the different backgrounds of the characters in "My Name", as well as the sparks that collide with each other's interaction and fighting wits, all give the whole Korean drama a rather charming charm.
Personally, the main attraction of "My Name" is Han Shaoxi's fight action scene. Just like her clean and neat short hair, Zhiyou's own aura aura, flexible and fast and deadly movements, combined with the smooth and stylized mirror editing of the whole drama, have successfully created another style of action that is different from "Fast Pursuit" and "Kate".
Although sometimes Zhiyou uses her petite body to meet many tall men, it seems to be a little difficult, which also subtly highlights her indomitable and unwilling to easily concede.
Therefore, the revenge story of "My Name" is like the Revenge Story of the Korean female version of "Infernal Affairs", the choreographer takes the main question of "Who Killed Zhiyou's Father" as the basis for constructing the eight episodes of "My Name", so that the two sides of the police and bandits have a grudge over the years, as well as the boss Choi Moo-jin and the leader Cha Qihao's many doubts, causing the protagonist Ji woo to be curious about the murder of the criminal police in 2004, and the process of discovering the hidden clues and secrets in it, making a profound description of the character's state of mind change.
Although in the later part of the story of "My Name", Zhiyou learns the true identity of his father, who was a member of the organization, who killed him? Which side cannot tolerate the betrayal of the father? It also makes the intellectual friends who also have a dual identity have a deeper contradiction.
What kind of situation do we face when we find that our beloved father has an unknown side? Can we kill those who want society to move toward justice for revenge?
The father is an undercover police officer who infiltrated the drug cartel, and the daughter is a member of the organization that infiltrated the police force, and in the end, "My Name" actually explores human nature through the scars and shadows in people's hearts. Just because the audience can feel the anger of her wanting her loved ones to avenge, how can she avoid continuing to cause harm under the sense of justice and kindness as a criminal policeman? Ending this vicious circle of revenge?
Is Zhiyou a member of the organization or an anti-drug policeman, and will these two identities affect her inner will? Did she go down this path because of hatred and anger? Or is it to practice justice?
Just like "My Name" Korean and English titles are taken as literal translations of "my name" "마이네임/my name", the director finally uses the protagonist's question about whether he is called Yin Zhiyou or Wu Huijin, triggering her inner dilemma, is it to be able to complete the task with the identity given to her by name, or to listen to her true voice to achieve her ideal goal?
In watching "My Name," you might hope that she will eventually choose one side, but it turns out that just like both names are her own, whether it is her father's baby daughter, the undercover who helps the organization obtain intelligence, the policeman who practices justice, or the killer who wants to avenge her father, they are real and part of the heroine's life, and the most important thing is her own belief when the surroundings are constantly changing and gradually moving towards chaos.
But even with this vision, sometimes the world is so cruel that we have no choice. In the end, "My Name" as a film noir with tragic overtones, although the heroine Zhiyou successfully avenged her father, she also paid many irreparable sacrifices and costs when she became a "monster".
You may feel dazed and a little empty in your heart for the ending of "My Name", but I think this is the real face of the real world and human nature, and there will never be an absolute answer.
I like the conversation between Quan Bi-do and the team leader Che Qihao at the kebab shop in "My Name", he said that catching drugs is like building a sandcastle, although it will be constantly eroded by the waves, but as long as it continues, it will be able to successfully achieve the goal when the tide goes down.
Isn't this also a true portrayal of the revenge experience of the heroine of "My Name" and our attempt to achieve our ideals? Watching Zhiyou eventually change her surname from Yin to her father's real name Song, constantly trying to find self-realization and identity in various identities, may be the only way to survive in this cruel world.
Overall, after the popularity of "Squid Game", "My Name" once again showed the maturity of the Korean film industry, except in Asia, no one can match, and it has a considerable degree of competitiveness on the world stage.
Although the plot direction of "My Name" is not particularly unpredictable under the delicate relationship between the protagonist Zhiyou and the boss, the main features of the charismatic characters and action scenes in the gangster movie are combined with the suspense story of "My Name", not only the atmosphere and rhythm are properly mastered, but the wonderful and eye-catching performance of the actors also adds a lot of points to the whole drama.
I can be sure that "My Name" will be the personal masterpiece of the new generation of actor Han Shaoxi after "The World of Couples", and she was completely conquered by the first episode just by watching it. The long hair style in the front fully interprets the character's inner dazed sadness, and the neat short hair in the back adds a lot of handsome fierceness, which is very flavorful of the girl group Itzy Shen Liuzhen, looking forward to her future performance in other works and being able to show a more diversified look.