‘12.12: The Day’ Review: South Korea’s Oscar Submission Is an Exciting Political Thriller About the Nation’s 1979 Coup d’Etat

‘12.12: The Day’ Review: South Korea’s Oscar Submission Is an Exciting Political Thriller About the Nation’s 1979 Coup d’Etat

One of the darkest chapters in South Korean history is chronicled in “12.12: The Day,” a riveting account of the coup d’état of the 1979 coup d’état that followed the Oct. 26 assassination of authoritarian president Park Chung-hee. Meticulously written and very well-performed by a top-notch cast including Hwang Jung-min (“Deliver Us From Evil”), the first feature from director and co-writer Kim Sung-su since 2016 is an exciting and highly suspen…