The Coastguard
2003
Driven by the belief that killing a spy is the highest honour, Private Kang waits eagerly for a chance to prove his worth as a soldier. One night, he mistakenly kills an innocent civilian. As he loses his grip on reality, tension and paranoia escalate and further tragedy soon seems inevitable... Read more
| Starring | Jang Dong-Gun |
|---|---|
| Director | Kim Ki-Duk, Kim Ki-Duk |
| Genres | World Cinema |
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The Coastguard
Driven by the belief that killing a spy is the highest honour, Private Kang waits eagerly for a chance to prove his worth as a soldier. One night, he mistakenly kills an innocent civilian. As he loses his grip on reality, tension and paranoia escalate and further tragedy soon seems inevitable...
| Starring | Jang Dong-Gun |
|---|---|
| Director | Kim Ki-Duk, Kim Ki-Duk |
| Studio | PALISADES TARTAN |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 34 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | World Cinema |
| Language | DVD: Korean |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 24 Jul 2006 Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews
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Emotionally intense
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Most helpful member's review
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18 out of 20 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Not The Kind That Saves Lives....
Driven by the belief that killing a spy is the highest honour, and the killing will also get him an honourable discharge, a conscript soldier guarding the coast waits eagerly for a chance to prove his worth. One night, he mistakenly kills an innocent civilian. As the horror of his actions make him lose his already fragile grip on reality, everyone around him shows signs of being affected by the tragedy. This South Korean film from Kim Ki-Duk may not make complete sense, but it certainly enlightened me about a part of Korean life that I was not aware of. A compelling central performance from Jang Dong-Gun keeps you watching.
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- drunkenmaster from Merthyr Tydfil,
- Posted 10 Jan 2007 13:42
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Most recent members' review
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Good Film
The Coastguard
(Kim Ki-Duck 2003 S. Kor.)
This, present-day, story centres on a South Korean army platoon entrusted with guarding a strip of coastline from North Korean incursions. The army barracks, sited within a rocky enclave, overlooks a prohibited stretch of beach and the soldiers are under strict orders (as in such real-life circumstances, apparently) to shoot dead any and all trespassers.
The son of the local fish-vendor decides to earn a few “Brownie-points” for bravery and takes his girlfriend into the restricted zone for some night-time love-making. However, he didn’t reckon on the over-enthusiastic Private Kang, who blasts him to smithereens. The film then pursues the effects this action has on all concerned, including Private Kang, and by extension how those affected interact and further exasperate the situation.
The issue of “separation” forms a key, and extended, underpinning of this film. The soldiers live within a compound separate from the nearest village and even when they and locals cross paths, they are distinguished by their permanent, uniform, mode of dress. Equally, the macho-culture of army life, with its regular face-slapping, kicking and fighting, etc. is very different from the family life-style of the local fishing families. For the fish-vendor separation is sudden and extreme in the loss of his son. For Private Kang separation, (from reality), is gradual and gradient. For the victims sister, separation (via madness) is permanent and fixed. And overall the separation of the all male soldiers from women leaves a sense of an unbridled male culture which might otherwise be tempered by realism, at least within a peace-time setting.
The cinematography is impressive with the use of hand-held camerawork creating a sense of “being there”, as does the use of night-vision lenses generate a sense of vulnerability and eerie expectation.
Personally I found this to be a good 94 minutes of entertainment (though Catterick recruits might be well advised to give it a miss for fear of resurrecting nightmares). The Dali-like scenes of the ‘mad’ sister taking a fish for a walk on the beach and the later scene of her, in more tragic circumstances, biting the heads off fish whilst inside their tank, are memorable. I was at first disappointed at the casting of Jang Dong-gun as Private Kang as he didn’t appear able to portray “manic”. On reflection I think he was trying to portray the character as an additional “victim” of overall circumstances and in that regard he succeeded.
Overall, this is quite a good film and well worth watching.
8/7/”07 -
News and features
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Moviemaker Liman saves speedboat crew
- 07 Aug 2009
Moviemaker Doug Liman has been hailed a hero after coming to the rescue of three stranded boaters in the Hudson River in New York. The Bourne Identity director was sailing on his yacht on Wednesday morning (05Aug09) when he saw a cargo ship crush a speedboat, plunging the small crew into the water. He raced to the scene and rescued three people. Modest Liman says, "It was a close call." The speedboat crew were left with minor injuries. Coast Guard officials are investigating the incident. Read more
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