Joint Security Area - JSA on DVD (2000)

Gandhi from UK , 04/06/2005

...and what he sees as a country divided and provoked by an outside force in this political thriller with a tightly woven story.

The synopsis gives the premise as shown at laid out at the start of the film, but quickly you see there is allot more to it than that. Right from the beginning we are very aware that those being investigated are hiding something. Its a mostly static situation that reveals itself over time via scenes showing what the investigator thinks happened so far, those involved said has happened... and later those involved remembering what really happened.

Much like the likes of director Park Chan-Wook's later work it is very slickly done (but better edited than Old Boy), scenes flow into each other well, whether they be in a different location or time from one another. And whilst there is certainly a strong sense of sentimentality and even romanticisation for a good part of the film, reality is always at the forefront... not everything ends like one might want it to, inspite the ending (an ambiguous one at that) does leave one with a good feeling inside.

A slight letdown in this film has to be the acting, not of those being investigated (who play the biggest parts) but rather the investigators, consisting of an English speaking peace keeping force that vows to remain neutral. Having said that Ha-kyun Shin's acting does pick up when she speaks Korean, which I'm thankful for because she plays the fifth most prominent character and is very much representative of the rest of the world.

Overall this has been the best Park Chan-Wook I have seen so far and just goes to show why he is one of the most prominent Korean directors that have made Korean cinema so very fashionable in recent years.

  5 out of 5 people found this review helpful

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A customer from London , 02/06/2008

It could be that this movie is interesting but I was not able to understand it because there were no sub titles I think the movie was sent by mistake because i don't believe i ordered it.

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

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Saty from Reading , 13/06/2005

Not being Korean I cannot really take this story to the same depths but as it is a human drama about brotherhood and manhood then that makes it fairly universal. The story is told in flashback with the occasional deliberat inaccuracy but everything is handled really well and Im amazed that Park managed to get permission to film at the actual border and uses clever editing (I presume) to move the camera to the North Korean side. A film that shows aspects of the Korean divide with good humour and fairness to both points of view.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

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A customer from Slough, England , 12/05/2006

I liked this film about friendship between 4 soldiers sharing a border duites - it's recommended.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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