Thursday, March 15, 2012

Joint Security Area - 2002 - 4¼ Stars

Actors: Kang-ho Song, Byung Heon Lee
Director: Chan-wook Park

Think of Joint Security Area as a kind of Korean Grand Illusion. Maybe that's not the right movie, but the film covers a similar theme - the treatment of one's supposed enemies. How do soldiers forced to guard a border treat one another upon meeting, especially when they share the same language and a common heritage? Joint Security Area gets off to a lumbering, confusing beginning, but quickly turns into a fascinating examination of North and South Korean relations. I wouldn't be shocked if some elements of the film are cliche - but I'm not Korean, so it's new to me.

Hampering the film are some English-speaking characters who are distractingly poorly dubbed. In fact, the DVD defaults to the entire film being dubbed - c'mon, people, who are these people who prefer dubbed movies?

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