At a latest press convention to mark the discharge of Connect, lead actor Jung Hae-in and director Takashi Miike spoke of their shared imaginative and prescient for the present’s manufacturing – which is darkly apt for this new Disney+ present that revolves across the macabre connection between two males, one harmless and the opposite evil, by a transplanted eyeball.
Against the backdrop of by-gone, working-class Seoul neighbourhoods, we meet Dong-soo (Jung Hae-in), who’s been viciously attacked by a gang of thugs. What they don’t know is that Dong-soo is a ‘Connect’ – an immortal human of lore whose physique has the flexibility to restore itself even when stabbed, shot, or dissected for its organs – which these thugs wish to commerce on the black market.
In the method of harvesting Dong-soo’s organs, his eyes are taken. However, his Connect skills imply that he awakes on the surgeon’s desk simply in time to struggle again. He retrieves considered one of his eyes, however within the chaos leaves one behind. It’s transplanted into one other particular person – Jinseob, a terrifying serial killer performed by Ko Kyung-po – and so the story begins. Dong-soo turns into linked to Jinseob, and by proxy, his crimes, by way of agonisingly painful visions that land Dongsoo in scorching water with a bunch of detectives led by veteran Officer Choi (performed by Memories of Murder’s Kim Roe-ha).
The storyline, tailored from a webtoon, is certainly fantastical because it sounds: Connect is a grungy, grotesque sci-fi journey laden with graphic CGI results so disturbing, they might solely be lifted from the pages of a comic book. At instances, the horrific gore is gratuitous – the primary few episodes typically really feel like an pointless parade of dismembered physique elements – however it’s typically successfully wielded to convey the form of perverse horror the plot requires. And the carnage does finally dissipate because the collection progresses, giving strategy to a extra considerate and thought of storyline.
The peculiar loner of Dong-soo is a far cry from Jung Hae-in’s extra charismatic roles within the likes of affection tales Something within the Rain, One Spring Night, and Snowdrop. Connect is Jung’s first foray into horror, so his portrayal does really feel just a little unconvincing at instances. But, because the episodes progress, he reveals rising promise because the unlikely anti-hero.
The disgrace Dong-soo feels about his unorthodox powers – the results of a tough, neglectful upbringing the place he struggled along with his skills as a Connect – makes him a surprisingly refreshing everyman lead. Dong-soo is neither street-smart nor courageous like different display superheroes; he seeks to keep away from battle, visibly trembles within the face of hazard and lives his life in a grotty residence enjoying the guitar in solitude. It’s finally fairly endearing to see Dong-soo begin to break away from that life for the better good – to embrace development that’s sprung from horrific circumstances.
As miserable as Dong-soo’s existence feels, it’s encouraging to see his character develop in every episode, notably when he meets Lee Yi-rang (Kim Hye-jun, Inspector Koo and Kingdom), a wide-eyed novelist who packs a punch and is obsessive about the Connect phenomenon. With Lee in his nook, some heat is added to Dong-soo’s in any other case hellish state of affairs, and a drama that’s in any other case drenched in darkness.
All episodes of Connect are out now on Disney+.