Trailer for T.O.P's ‘The Commitment’ (동창생)

A Lonely Boy Meets a Lonely Girl in The Commitment

The Commitment is based on the tense relationship between South and North Korea. The hero is a boy who infiltrated the South from the North. But he is only a high school student. He was never trained and never thought of becoming a killer. Herein lies the unique strength of ‘The Commitment’. How will the boy react in a twist of fate? This concept will draw spectators into an emotional drama as well as an action thriller.

Myung-hoon (Choi Seung-hyun) has to commit a murder to protect his one and only sister though he is only nineteen years old. Before coming to South Korea, he never imagined he would become a killer. Myung-hoon was born with a silver spoon in his mouth in the North and his dream was to become a pianist. But when his father died after being wrongfully accused, his aspirations were shattered into pieces.

Myung-hoon comes to South Korea and becomes a killer on the condition that his sister will be safe. When he receives an order, he has to kill a person unconditionally. The only friend of this high school killer is Hye-in (Han Ye-ri) who has the same name as his sister. Myung-hoon has nowhere to go and no one to turn to and gradually opens his heart to Hye-in who embraces him.

Park Eun-gyeong, the CEO of The Lamp, the production company of the film, stressed that ‘The Commitment’ is not focused on political ideologies even though the material for the movie is the relations between the two Koreas. “This film is about third generation Koreans since the division of the peninsula. The historical events (the division of Korea and the Korean war) that the two characters did not directly experience nevertheless change their lives and destinies,” Park said.

Therefore, the emotion that dominates the film is ‘compassion’. Unlike other films, audiences will not be excited about the boy’s accomplishment of his missions. Instead , they will feel pity for him as he cannot help but kill another person.

The director was more focused on the feelings of Myung-hoon than the film's technical accomplishments. Myung-hoon and Hye-in become friends, understand each other and are not afraid to sacrifice themselves for one another. “The process is to search for their egos,” Park said. “Hye-in is also a victim of bullying. A lonely boy meets a lonely girl, get to know each other and complete their egos. In this context, this movie is also a movie about sacrifice and redemption.”

Choi Seung-hyun played a supporting role as a student solider in 71-Into The Fire (2010) but played a leading role in ‘The Commitment’. “Choi is excellent at expressing emotions,” Park said. “People will see that Choi is a excellent actor through this film.”