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Directed by: Park Chan Wook Starring: Won Bin , Song Gang Ho , Shin Ha Kyun , Lee Young Ae , Lee Byeong Heon , Ki I knew very little about this movie before I watched it, other than it was a Korean movie that dealt with a conflict along the DMZ. I am not going to dwell on Korean history because I don’t know much about it, but after seeing this movie, I feel like I got a tiny peek into a culture that is scarred by national division which runs deeper than I can really grasp as an outsider. My first foray into this world was Shiri, which I also consider to be an excellent movie. While Shiri highlighted the differences in ideology of the politics in the North and South, this movie shows the differences only so that we can look beyond them and see a nation of one people who happen to wear two uniforms and follow two opposing sets of rules depending on their geography. The movie is about friendship and brotherhood, which is so poignant because of the environment in which it takes place. Throughout the movie I saw images of happiness and camaraderie, while the walls of the very room where these friends spent time were covered in propaganda and diagrams of how one could best kill the other. It’s through this juxtaposition that the film depicts the wastefulness of fifty years of hatred and bottled aggression. After all, how can you kill the enemy you are sharing a story and a drink with? Is this person really an enemy? Obviously not. The initial premise of the story is that a Swiss-born Korean woman and a Swedish man, who represent a neutral U.N. investigative team, have traveled to the Joint Security Area on the line between the Koreas to investigate a conflict between a South Korean soldier and three North Korean soldiers that resulted in three deaths. The killings took place on the north side of the line, but the stories from the lone survivor from either side conflict drastically. One thing I really liked about the presentation of this movie is that the directory actually followed the rule of “show, don’t tell.” The investigators read the deposition of the southern soldier first and rather than telling the story, the scene cuts to a play-by-play of what actually happened according to his deposition. Then we travel across to the north, where we see the northern version of what happened, once again, seeing things rather than having them related through words. I hesitate to go on in too much detail about the plot because the movie is so drat good that I would hate to give away any spoilers in this review. Director Chan-wook Park goes to great detail to show the tension at the dividing line where two armies stand literally face to face just waiting for the other side to make a move. For example, in one scene a group of (possibly) American tourists on the south side are getting a tour when a gust of wind blows a woman’s hat off and it falls just inches over the line. Without hesitating, the woman walks forward a few steps then stops, realizing that she cannot cross over to get her hat back. It’s such a simple thing, to take two steps and pick up your own hat, yet in this one place in the world, it is absolutely not possible. Having never been to Korea, I cannot speak for the accuracy of the set, but I was able to suspend all disbelief and accept what I saw as the real border. The environment was great too, with scenes in the spring and in the winter, in the day and at night, in the sun and in the rain. JSA, unlike Shiri, doesn’t play favorites. This movie is excellent and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories of friendship, and even to those who enjoy political dramas or suspense movies. I would like to think that Shiri and especially JSA are typical of the kind of movies we can hope to see coming out of Korea in the years to come. If so, then I’ll gladly watch each of them in turn. RATING: 5 PROS: Solid performance from all actors CONS: Limited exposure in the USA, some people may not like subtitled movies ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260991/
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Sep 13, 2004 19:09
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Heartbreaking and depressing, JSA is one of the most powerful movies about friendship I have ever seen. JSA excels at showing just how tense a world the characters live in. A moment of friendship can turn into a moment of violence in just a split second. While some of the actors fell a bit flat (the Swiss officers mainly), Song Kang Ho gives an incredible performance as a patriotic North Korean officer. The movie has a very meandering plot structure, often jumping back and forth between the past and the present. At first it will seem like it does so without rhyme or reason, but everything falls beautifully into place by the end. The cinematography pales in comparison to Park Chan Wook's other films, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy, but it still looks very good. The ending shot is especially well done and cool. It's interesting to see Park Chan Wook's growth as a film maker over the course of his three films. They all have the same emotional impact, but with each film, editing, pacing, and cinematography get better and better. As for the set, it's dead on to the real Panmunjom. If you look at pictures comparing the two, you can't tell the difference. Rating: 5 notation fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Sep 16, 2004 |
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Sep 16, 2004 04:11
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This movie was excellent. I agree that it didn't play sides. It was both very dramatic on both sides. I felt sympathy for both sides, too. Jack basically said what I was feeling. The acting was excellent, and I couldn't have felt more involved and intruiged by such a movie. 5/5
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Sep 17, 2004 01:24
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Excellent movie. You're brought in under the guise of watching a political/military thriller, but all that changes during Sgt. Oh's attempted suicide. As he falls, his eyes catch Sgt. Lee's as he passes the window one floor below. It's through this passing moment we learn the events surrounding the JSA incident, which actually takes up the majority of the screentime. We learn about a pair of soldiers on each side of the border, united by brotherhood but divided by geography. I agree with notation that the cinematography of Park's movies has improved significantly since this film, but that is not to say that this movie isn't excellent on its own merits. Every scene in the movie ties together flawlessly - I found myself wondering about the importance of a few setup scenes describing the border and conflict, only to find later that they're really about the divided friendship between the soldiers, and not the incident at hand. Park gives us a number of brief glimpses into the events surrounding the JSA incident, only to reveal later that what really happened was nothing like we could have imagined. 5/5
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Sep 20, 2004 15:35
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If I could have told Chan-Wook Park what he could do to make this an EXCELLENT movie instead of a "very good" one, this is what I'd have said: cut out all the parts in this movie where characters were speaking English. A good portion of the movie, involving Korean actors speaking Korean, was compelling and gripping; however, the pacing of the film was entirely thrown off by the scenes involving the English-speaking actors, whose acting was about as close to terrible as I can take. Still, the rest of the film is good enough to make up for the poor acting on the part of the English-speaking cast. The story is poignant, brutal, enlightening and wrenching. The relationship between the North and South Korean characters is the focal point of this film--the actual "mystery" of the incident at the JSA takes a backseat to the growing friendship and understanding between the four men. As in "Oldboy" and "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance," Park manages to capture the inner conflict and nearly unbearable emotional turmoil within the characters. It's enjoyable to watch the touches he adds to all his films that link them together, even as his skills as a director are just beginning to solidify. All in all, a very good movie bogged down by poor acting in some places, but redeemed by an excellent story and superb acting by the Korean cast. 4/5
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Oct 6, 2004 17:41
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