...ALL THE MARBLES

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Original Title: ...All the Marbles
Year: 1981
Director: Robert Aldrich
Writer: Mel Frohman
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081964/
Genre: Drama, Wrestling

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synopsis:
Harry manages The California Dolls, a female wrestling tag team endlessly touring America. He is also romantically involved with one of them. Their fortunes seem on the slide (particularly when Harry accepts an engagement involving mud wrestling!) but then the big grudge match beckons.

Oh what could have been.

I'm sure I have said that about films on my blog before, but it really applies to ...All the Marbles. This film was on the verge several times of being something special, but some tragic editing left it feeling very, very unfulfilling.

There are so many stories here that are touched upon, but never are they taken anywhere. Harry (Peter Falk) and Iris' (Vicki Frederick) apparent love affair. Molly's (Laurene Landon) entire background and drug problem. Harry's problems with gambling. The tour of Japan that never quite happens. This film puts far too many pokers in the proverbial fire, then just forgets about them for the sake of a Hollywood structure.

After watching the film and prepping for this review, I read this interesting post from a user on IMDb:

This movie wasn't ever supposed to have been a comedy. It was a serious drama that got chopped up by the studio execs who thought that it had gotten too serious for a wrestling movie.  

Molly (Laurene) was supposed to had been a lesbian who had been abused by her father who had the hots for her partner Iris (Vicky). The relationship between Iris and Harry (Peter) had a dark side to it. There were some scenes between the females wrestlers and some of the predatory male characters that would've had the audience wanting to get up to go to the theater restrooms to wash their hands.

The mudwrestling scene was there not for titilation, but to show how humiliating it can be to be a female wrestler (How many times has Hulk Hogan wrestled in hot oil?).
A little trivia: All the wrestling scenes were shot "stiff", meaning that nobody pulled their punches and everybody was hitting each other for real. Actress Kathleen Turner was supposed to have played the Iris character, but some studio execs came by the set during rehearsal and asked for a demonstration of the women's wrestling skills. Kathleen broke her hip after being tossed into the third row of seats by another actress. 

Anyway, it's time to see this movie originally as it was edited.

I don't know how much of this is true, but you can definitely see choppy editing and weird pacing... and stories left up in the air so it makes sense. This film could definitely benefit from being reedited entirely.

I don't usually start off with such a complaint, but I really saw some potential in it, which was very surprising for me. Going in to a film about women's wrestling, with that poster and that silly name, with what I know about organizations such as GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling), I expected silliness. And whoever edited the film tried their hardest to make the film a little sleazy and a little humorous, but the darker elements certainly could not be hidden. It leaves you wanting to know much more about the characters in a better made film as well as more about the back stage of pro-wrestling in general.

But don't worry... I'm still gonna talk about tits and women slapping the shit out of each other.

Landon and Frederick as the California Dolls are not very good actresses, but they fucking bring it in the ring! I had to see if these ladies were actually professional wrestlers as they gave and received some impressive wrestling holds and maneuvers in the film.

I also read on IMDb that the matches in the film were performed stiff, meaning the hits that you see are real. When you see these women throwing elbows to their opponents' sweaty tits, that impact hurts! Kathleen Turner apparently was considered for the role of Iris until at a test she was thrown from the ring and broke a hip! It may not have been entirely necessary for these hits to be taken so, especially considering how the film turned out, but it lends for some very entertaining wrestling... something you don't necessarily get in films of this genre.

Peter Falk is solid as Harry, but his shtick does get a bit tired for me after awhile. Harry is a confusing character because at times he seems to really care about the Dolls but at other times he turns into a sleazeball. It really could have been fleshed out a little better than it was.

For fans of tits, there are quite a few on display here. It's piggish of me to bring this up, but fuck it! The women in the film are almost all attractive. This is also not what one may expect from women wrestlers from this era. Women "wrestlers" today are a completely different story as they are there first for looks and second for... um... acting ability? Certainly not their fucking wrestling skills. But having attractive women doing what they do well was great to see. You other pigs out there will get some sweaty cleavage, some tight swimsuit-style wrestling costumes, muddy bare tits, even a random shot of a lovely set of big bombs really only there for the sake of being on display. (And maybe showing Harry as being a bit sleazy)

Two large snapshots in a row, just for you, Mattsuzaka! (Chuck Norris Ate My Baby!)

Harry has an interesting line in the film before the women come out to embarrassingly perform in a mud wrestling match. "Every time you walk into the ring, you're a freak. That's what a wrestler is!" All the Marbles really should have stuck with the women struggling with this more than it did. As it stands, the film is a poorly edited and OK directed work. This was Robert Aldrich's (director of the classic The Dirty Dozen) last film before he died, and I am leaning toward the theory more and more as I write this that the film ended up not exactly being what his vision was.

It has its well shot, OK acted moments, but too much humor was attempted to be injected, ended up being too long despite feeling cut up at the same time.

Recommended for fans of the genre, particularly to see what could have been. I'd be interested to read the original screenplay.

Score: 5.75 / 10

If this shot doesn't encapsulate the film, I don't know what does. We could have had a slightly disturbing scene with this poor woman living with regrets for what she has done to further her career, but we get a wet tit shot thrown in with it. Ah well...

NIGHT AND THE CITY

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Original Title: Night and the City
Year: 1950
Director: Jules Dassin
Writer: Jo Eisinger (screenplay), Gerald Kersh (novel)
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042788/
Genre: Crime, Wrestling

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synopsis:
Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) is a London hustler with ambitious plans that never work out. One day, when he encounters the most famous Greco-Roman wrestler in the world, Gregorius, at a London wrestling arena run by his son Kristo, he dreams up a scheme that he thinks will finally be his ticket to financial independence. As Fabian attempts to con everyone around him to get his scheme to work, he of course only ends up conning himself.

I'm really stretching out this wrestling theme... Jesus Christ!

I stumbled across Night and the City late in my wrestling film search game, and I have to say that this is not the sort of film one would expect in the genre. If you've been reading the reviews of these I have written, you will understand this definitely. Night and the City is a nicely done film-noir crime drama with a wrestling backdrop.

Maybe like zombie films, wrestling is best as a driving force in a film - getting the plot ball rolling - as opposed to being the story itself.

I'm familiar with noir as a genre, but I have very little experience actually watching them. Shocker! I think what you may pick up first from this film, and I assume much of the film-noir genre in particular, are the fantastic shots, lighting, etc. Night and the City is a visual feast to borrow a cliche. Deep inky blacks, dramatic angles, eerie night shots; the photography here kept me interested more than anything else. Influential cinematographer Mutz Greenbaum (credited as Max Greene) and Dassin assembled a beautifully sweaty film here. The lighting was at times unrealistic, but had a great illustrative quality.

I love films I can pause at multiple points and get an image that could be a successful painting. That's not to say it's only the still imagery that I enjoyed, because the subtle camera movements, and angles employed as characters would interact add to this as well. The shots often felt claustrophobic as we could feel the tension that our main character Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) felt in his struggles.

I consider myself far more a visual person than anything else, and in this case the looks of the film really stood out. The Criterion transfer of it looks marvelous.

The story in Night and the City was surprising for me. As I said earlier, going into the wrestling genre, one expects similar acting and storytelling that actually happens in pro-wrestling... over the top, corny, really just there for a rise. But the story here is a nice, tense drama with double crosses and solid characterization. Wrestling here serves as the backdrop instead of the plot itself, which seems like it may be the way to go. I suppose one can look at this as a crime drama instead of wrestling really, but a main character is a wrestler, and fuck it... when else am I gonna review something like this??

Widmark's Harry Fabian, who was an interesting, shady, and entertaining character acted pretty well. All the characters in the film are the type of melodramatic characters that seem to pop up in the film-noir crime films, but it works. Widmark grits his teeth, sweats, screams, and runs his ass off. You just know from the beginning that he is headed for trouble as he is the type that is constantly looking for the easy way to make money. As the film focuses on Harry, the performance needed to stand out, and I think Widmark did a great job. His scenes with imposing club owner Phillip (Francis L. Sullivan) were my favorites.

The surprise performance came from Stanislaus Zbyszko as Gregorious. You can tell Zbyszko is not a trained actor, but something was very endearing about him as the wise old wrestler set in his ways. Zbyszko was a strong man/Greco-Roman wrestler from the early 20th century, so the casting of him here works very well. He was at a point in his life where he was training wrestlers, as his character Gregorious does here. He has a fantastic fight scene despite looking very old, and it's really the only wrestling in the film.

The film unfolds slowly, not as an action packed sports film by any means. If you are looking for the corn, cheese, pomp, and circumstance of that many wrestling films would become, this probably isn't your choice. This was really my only trouble with it. Not really a fair criticism I guess, but I think this film could definitely bear rewatching.

For a wonderfully shot, dark, gritty crime film that paints wrestling much more seriously, this is great. High recommendation

Score: 7.75 / 10

RIKIDOZAN

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Original Title: Yeokdosan
Year: 2004
Director: Hae-sung Song
Writer: Hae-sung Song
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435931/
Genre: Drama, Sport Biography

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synopsis:
A chronicle of the life of Korean-born wrestler Rikidozan, who, after being barred from Japanese wrestling because of his ethnic origins, became a sensation in the United States in the 1950s and then the father or pro-wrestling and a national hero in Japan.

After my huge intro a couple days ago, I'll bet you were expecting Body Slam or something, yeah?

Well, I am using Foul King as a jumping off point into the world of pro-wrestling cinema and diving immediately into another Korean wrestling film, this one a serious drama. Serious dramas like Rikidozan, similarly to The Wrestler from 2008, are few and far between. This is due to the fact probably that pro-wrestling really isn't taken seriously (and probably rightfully so) by most people. Usually a serious wrestling story will be one of the shady underside of the sport, like the Wrestler.

But Rikidozan instead shows the fame that was built by a Korean wrestler in Japan and how be became a national hero. While it has its moments of tragedy, from Mitsuhiro Momota's humble beginnings as a sumo wrestler, to his struggles with alcohol and prescription abuse, to his death from a stabbing in a nightclub, the film also has the highs and glory that he experienced through his relatively short career.

This all was for me by far the most interesting aspect of the film. I never knew the details of Rikidozan's rise to fame. Really all I knew about him was that he was known as The Father of Puroresu (Japanese word for pro-wrestling), and that he died from being stabbed. Oh, and I never knew about the ties of early Japanese pro wrestling with the Yakuza!

And I call myself a fan of wrestling? Bah!

Rikidozan was to Japan what Santo was to Mexico or maybe Hulk Hogan was to the United States. Being Korean, he was heavily discriminated against, especially early on as a sumo trainee, and this makes it all the more impressive that he became the hero he did. At times the film implies that he possibly hid his nationality, but I'm not entirely sure how common the knowledge of his nationality actually was. The story is rather well told and straightforwardly presented, except for a love story that was presented between Riki and his wife Aya. But the overall tale of his rise to fame is the real meant and potatoes, and the driving force.

Japan felt trod upon by America after the Second World War, and Rikidozan being successful, particularly against American opponents, really helped to unify Japan and give them pride as a nation again. Maybe the point is over-exaggerated in the film, but you can really see how Riki's timing was key and why he became as huge as he did. The sport was not really known in the country, and through Rikidozan not only was pro-wrestling introduced, but also became very huge there with it catching on as television did also.

The other high point for me was the performance of Kyung-gu Sol as Rikidozan. I've not seen Sol before, but apparently he gained a lot of weight for the role, learned Japanese, and he appears to do all of his own stuntwork in the film. If it was not him taking the backdrops and chair shots, then director Hae-sung Song did a remarkable job masking it. At times he was a bit melodramatic, but I suspect that me just as much the fault of Song's directions as Sol's acting. He's got a great look, and does a really nice job in moments when he is going on his inebriated rampages, or confronting certain individuals in the film.

There are not any other stand out performances, and Sol is on screen a majority of the time, but fans of wrestling might get a kick out of seeing a wrestling appearance by Rick Steiner of The Steiner Brothers fame, and one by Keiji Mutoh, formerly The Great Muta, playing a brief role as Harold Sakata, the man who played Oddjob in Goldfinger!

There are some very nice shots in there from Song and his cinematographer Hyeon-gu Kim, but so much of the direction here is heavy handed and a little sappy. While Rikidozan's relationship with his wife Aya may have been important in reality, the focus on it at times may have you rolling your eyes. It was almost as if Song couldn't decide how important it was as it fades in and out of the story, and sometimes it seemed very awkward and unrealistic. I suppose it can be said that the focus on the marriage could give another human anchor to a man who became a legend, I just think it could have been handled much better. There are some scenes in there outside of the relationship scenes that had me huffing as well, but I suppose this was being made for a broad Japanese audience as a wide-release here would be handled as well.

Ugh, a fucking flowery bike ride? Really?

Another element, one that seemingly led to Rikidozan's early death, that wasn't properly covered in the film, was his developing paranoia due to his drug abuse. It is touched on from time to time by Song, but never presented properly I don't think. One minute he is fine, then the next he thinks someone is trying to kill him when a flower pot falls from a home and almost hits him.

I did really like the set pieces - the older buildings and dirt streets of pre and post-war Japan looked great.

I don't have much more to say about the film as it's the story that is 95% of what it is. If you do not know the story of Rikidozan or you do, this film is definitely worth seeing. I loved learning that Rikidozan's first televised match in Japan was the first Japanese TV broadcast, that Oddjob was the guy that got Riki into wrestling in the first place, Riki's strange ties to the Yakuza... and all of that.

Great stuff despite the flaws. The wrestling scenes are cool to see, but I just wish the dramatic elements weren't as corny at times as they were.

Score: 6.75 / 10

SECRET SUNSHINE

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Original Title: Milyang
Year: 2007
Director: Chang-dong Lee
Writer: Chang-dong Lee, Chong-jun Yi (novel)
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0817225/
Genre: Drama

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synopsis:
Sin-ae moves with her son Jun to Miryang, the town where her dead husband was born. As she tries to come to herself and set out on new foundations, another tragic event overturns her life.

Two things on the top here...

One, I am not exactly sure how to review this film. The major plot points are really the shifts in the main character's "religious journey" instead of just events happening. For this reason, you may want to assume that there are spoilers contained within. I will try my best though to keep it spoiler-free.

To be fair though, it is difficult to spoil this film as the performances are the driving force as opposed to the actual events.

Secondly, the posters for this film are goddamn atrocious.

This is the most understated, quiet Kang-ho Song film I will review here. In trying to figure out what I was going to actually say about Secret Sunshine, I read a review with director Chang-dong Lee. You can read that here. In it, he explains the journey of faith and says that Song, while almost presented as a secondary character, is actually the main focus of his film.

Song plays Jong Chan, an average if a bit awkward guy living in the smaller city of Milyang. Almost immediately, he meets Shin-ae, played by another very popular Korean actress Do-yeon Jeon, when her car breaks down just outside of the city when she is moving herself and child there from Seoul.

Of course in my rookie ways, this is the first time for me seeing her.

From this point on, Jong follows Shin-ae around like a puppy following its master. No matter what she does, Jong is there to attempt to help her - even if she is pushing him away. We learn through conversation that Shin-ae is moving here because her recently deceased husband was born there and wanted to move back. We also learn through Shin-ae's brother that her husband was perhaps quite a bastard that cheated on her. So it is already curious that she wants to move here, as if confronting the source of her problems in Seoul will help her with closure?

An event occurs almost halfway through the film, just as Shin-ae is finally settling in and making friends in the new area, that sends her world into a tailspin. The only eventual solace she finds is at the church, with Jong following her close behind. She embraces her new religion and the friends and peace it brings her, and Jong is still there taking part alongside her, even as his friends poke fun.

Already in Shin-ae we see a drastic transformation, but just as quickly as her faith take shape, on a "trip of forgiveness I will call it, she loses her confidence and sense of peace completely as she spirals into a self-doubting, self-loathing mess. She has a breakdown...she is hospitalized...


And Jong is still there.

"His eye is always on her, but she keeps looking up at the sky. And when she walks, she can only go in one direction, straight ahead, she can't look back. He has to follow her from a distance - if she looked behind her, she would see him."

After Shin-ae finds religion, she never seems to lose faith that something is out there watching her. Only her relationship with whatever or whomever that is is constantly in flux. Her shifts and inner turmoil, as well as Jong's unrelenting desire and will to remain by her side in some way, however pathetic it may seem, are the true plot points of the film.

Being one of little or no faith in the supernatural, it was difficult for me to relate to Shin-ae's journey. However, Lee's portrayal is quite amazing as we see Shin-ae adopting this faith not necessarily for the right reasons. Really, who is to say what are the right reasons in this case, but her's seem simply self-serving and always on the verge of collapse in a way. Lee has these layers of her faith slowly unfold and reveal themselves as things move on.

Coming into this from my point of view, I see tragedy initially as Shin-ae latches on to Christianity. Immediately red flags went up for me, as I just had a feeling that things would not and could not possibly last. That may be an unfair assessment, but obviously my bias is attached there.

Perhaps someone of faith would view her spiritual journey as tragedy slowly building as she drifts farther away from her peace, love and forgiveness that she initially finds in her faith.

Jong is a character I more closely identify with and was more interested in. My heart went out to this guy and his unrequited love for Shin-ae. Almost always with a near-goofy smile on his face, he would follow her anywhere she wanted... or did not want. I saw this relationship in a way as her being God to him. Not literally, obviously, but his journey in faith was more an earthly one.

Immediately upon meeting Shin-ae, Jong is enamored with her and wants to devote his time to her in any way. Even when she pushes him away, Jong loves her in his own way, just as those of faith will still love God even when his will may seem very questionable. He rarely questions her, and she is shown as working almost independently of him despite his always being there.... a very deist portrayal if you want to look at this relationship as mirroring a relationship of faith. I thought it was fitting that Jong is a mechanic because he would love nothing more than to repair Shin-ae, but in the meantime he is willing to stand closeby and let her attempt that for herself first.

Secret Sunshine was a bit of a struggle for me. I don't necessarily mean that in a negative way, as I greatly respect what Lee has done. But it is a very delicate subject matter and the emotional trip is not always a simple one to immediately grasp. Only in writing this have I worked out for myself some of the directions I saw the characters moving in.

I really believe this is a film that bears repeated viewings. And I think my score would be higher if I were to watch this again. It is most definitely not a quick paced popcorn flick in any way shape or form, but I would highly recommend this to anyone willing to be "Jong Chan patient" with it.

Score: 7.5 / 10

MEMORIES OF MURDER

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Original Title: Salinui chueok
Year: 2003
Director: Joon-ho Bong
Writer: Joon-ho Bong, Kwang-rim Kim, Sung Bo Shim
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0353969/
Genre: Crime, Drama

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synopsis:
South Korea in 1986 under the military dictatorship: Two rural cops and a special detective from the capital investigate a series of brutal rape murder. Their crude measures become more desperate with each new corpse found. Based on a true case.

Kang-ho Song month, limited as it may be, rolls on with another fantastic entry in Memories of Murder. This film, for various reasons, took me forever to finally finish, at no fault whatsoever to the film itself. But I am so glad I finally finished it today!

Since it is his month here afterall, we will start with Mr. Song and his again phenomenal performance. He plays a rural detective, Doo-man Park, who is a little chubby, a little lazy, and a little too sure of his investigative skills. What has fallen into his lap in his little Korean village is a serial murder case that immediately feels much broader in scope than what his limited police office can handle. He doesn't seems to take things as seriously as he should, but the case that finds its way to him sets a change in motion.

Song is so great as he portrays a gradual transformation in Detective Park as the story unfolds. Very funny at times and very frustrated and confused at times, he goes from the corner-cutting clod to a more introspective, serious man as he becomes increasingly involved in this seemingly unsolvable murder. His character is played off nicely against the more serious Detective Seo Tae-Yoon, played by Sang-kyung Kim.

Detective Seo is brought in from Seoul when it becomes apparent to the local police that this serial murder case is beyond their scope. He sits on the sidelines, investigating quietly and seriously while Park and his hothead partner Detective Cho Yong-koo (Roe-ha Kim) torture suspects and plant evidence, trying to just get a confession and end the case easily. Seo claims that documents never lie, and where Park relies on his instinct to do his job, Seo pours over these documents for his. It's a straightforward approach that also begins to shift toward a more Park-like frame of mind as the film progresses.

We can almost see the exact point when the investigation has Seo and Park passing like two trains, as Park grows up and Seo's emotions and frustrations surface and he begins problem solving with his heart as well.

Kim plays an understated role here, almost the opposite of Song's character, until he begins to bubble over as the case frustrates him as well.

Joon-ho Bong does a great job here in constructing this story for the screen. While an ordinary film would have gone the route of the detectives simply trying to solve a case, Bong here makes this story just as much about these two very different detectives morphing as this case becomes more and more frustrating. As with many of the Korean films I have seen from this time, Bong's gradual and delicate storytelling can seem to meander initially, but things compound upon themselves and the ending, while not explosive and decisive, is very impactful.

Is impactful a word? There are a few dropkicks in the film which are definitely impactful. Awesome!

Bong's characters are very interesting, and often shot very closeup in emotional moments. Lesser actors would definitely be exposed in scenes such as these. This along with some beautiful camerawork in outdoor locations make the film a true joy to watch. Cinematographer Hyung-ku Kim definitely deserves much credit for the lighting in some fantastic dark and rainy scenes.

As I said, the story in the first third of the film does feel like dragging feet in a way. As characters are established, I really felt like this was going to be a generic detective story with the little twist of one of the prime investigators being lazy and the other very driven. A little patience goes a long way, and it does seem that this may be a common element in Korean film structure. I do not want to give away any plot points really, but the story is never overly complex, but instead the character interactions are. The true plot becomes the relationships and transformations.

I had similar feelings about JSA: Joint Security Area at first as well, as it starts feeling one way and turns into something quite different and quite remarkable.

I have to highly recommend this film for Kang-ho Song's and Sang-kyung Kim's performances, for it being beautifully shot and very well told. I think any imperfections I may have noticed can come down to a difference in American and Korean storytelling in cinema as well as my watching it unfortunately in a broken schedule.

Grade A filmmaking.

Score: 8.75 / 10

JSA: JOINT SECURITY AREA

Before I begin here, I want to thank Mr. Coffin Jon of Varied Celluloid (a weekly genre-centric videocast on Livestream) and Large William of The Gentlemen's Guide to Midnite Cinema for helping me out with Korean name structure (?) this week. I honestly had no clue which name was first or last, and was calling people by their first names instead of last simply out of confusion.

So Mr. SONG, this is your theme month.

And Jon and Will, this review is dedicated to you both!

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Original Title: Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA
Year: 2000
Director: Chan-wook Park
Writer: Seong-san Jeong, Hyeon-seok Kim, Mu-yeong Lee, Chan-wook Park, Sang-yeon Park (novel "DMZ")
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260991/
Genre: Drama

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synopsis:
In the DMZ separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier. But the 11 bullets found in the bodies, together with the 5 remaining bullets in the assassin's magazine clip, amount to 16 bullets for a gun that should normally hold 15 bullets. The investigating Swiss/Swedish team from the neutral countries overseeing the DMZ suspects that another, unknown party was involved - all of which points to some sort of cover up. The truth is much simpler and much more tragic.

I want to be very careful with this review as not to give away the delicate story that unfolds here. This slow reveal of elements of this tale made this truly great to me, and one of the best films I have seen in a long, long time. So at the same time I am wanting to go on and on about it.

I'm also afraid my ramblings will not do the film justice. How about this; if you run into some BS of mine that you just can't get past... just go watch this now.

It is worth your time.

JSA is still part of my Kang-ho Song theme I have running here, and he appears playing a North Korean soldier and one of the three individuals in the middle of an investigation of what exactly happened the one night when two North Korean soldiers are mysteriously killed. If for some odd reason I wasn't a Song fan before, I definitely would be after this role. He is simply phenomenal as Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil, at the same time fiery and dedicated/loyal. You can see the wide range of emotions he goes through, but at the same time manages to still keep the character private and emotionally even for the most part.

Sgt. Oh is a very interesting character who is older and more experienced than the rest of the major players. He seems to be torn unlike the others in the strength of his contradicting loyalties, but he handles the contradictory emotions more maturely than the others might. You really get the sense through how the character is constructed and through Song's performance that Sgt. Oh is a realist where those around him are quite a bit more ideal. Oh's experience and perspective coming from an oppressive regime shapes his outlook on things.

The other role I want to discuss is another repeat performer on Assorted Loaf here as well: Byung-hun Lee's Sgt. Soo-hyeok Lee. (He played The Bad in The Good, The Bad, and the Weird.)

Sgt. Lee is one of those approaching-idealist characters I just spoke of. That might not really be a fair description, as no one in the film really is an idealist. Sgt. Lee just has a more innocent and optimistic view of how things could be.

He is the other main player in the drama that unfolds after the shooting of the North Korean soldiers, and throughout the film you learn that he is much less experienced in life and in the military than Sgt. Oh is. Where Oh knows what is possible and what is not, Sgt. Lee looks at things more as a child would. Or maybe it is as someone who is from a free society instead of an oppressed one.

Byung-hun does a great job with this role as well, and gives quite a touching performance. I associate it more with his performance from A Bittersweet Life, although this is still different as he wears his heart on his sleeve so to speak here. He deals with real, raw emotions, and you really feel for the character in what he is going through.

The direction of the film, as with Good, Bad, Weird, was the true highlight for me, and that's not to take away one ounce of anything from the performances of Song and Lee. Chan-wook Park is masterful here in my opinion.

Ultimately the story is simple, but it is presented in a deep and complex way. It unfolds gradually and as a result, I felt a bond with those involved. It was a story where after it was over, I found myself wanting to know what happened to certain characters as if they live on outside of the film.

Not only do we get endearing characters, and wonderful (and nostalgic in a way) relationships that form, Park creates an anti-war message in the film that never beats you over the head. It becomes a much larger story of brotherhood, innocence, and how trivial certain conflicts can seem when all it takes is a couple people to start a change.

The filmmaking is never flashy, (I think that could have been problematic with how the story was meant to unfold, so subtle is best) but there are little touches here and there... things you will notice once and then again... nuances in setting or whatever that just add perfectly to a scene. It all shows the great amount of care that went into the film's creation.

One element in particular I really liked was the ever-present signs of conflict even between people who are on the outside close friends. They play games not with dice but with live ammunition. They arm wrestle and push one another around. It's boyish and innocent, but at the same time telling of an underlying tension that goes way beyond themselves and the room they are in.

The film is divided into three distinct acts. The first act will have you feeling like you're watching a military set murder mystery. The neutral team from Sweden is investigating this murder that has increased tensions between two countries who are always seemingly on the brink of physical conflict. The Joint Security Area is impossibly small. I had no idea it was this way, but the military forces from North and South Korea are shown here as divided by a simple line... not a grey neutral area. They keep constant watch over one another, and Maj. Sophie E. Jean (Yeong-ae Lee) is told to be 100% subjective in her investigation as to not raise tension any further.

The second act is largely flashback and builds what truly happened that night. This is when the audience grows close to the characters and everything begins to be seen under a different light. Then obviously the third act is the resolution.

The first act in a way feels like a different movie... especially at first. It lasts awhile, and in hindsight I wish the second act flashbacks just happened a bit sooner. But when things shift in perspective and tone, the change is surprising and I think hits home even more, so my criticism here is probably just silly.

Throughout it all, Park keeps the tension high, makes the characters very endearing and complex, and does an A+ job of showing how so much can balance on one single bullet.

Thinking about this film right now, and while writing this review, I get a little choked up. It is touching and a complexly constructed simple story that still manages to carry a much larger message. The young men here are part of something much bigger, and I could feel their struggle at times. That to me is a successful film.

I feel like male viewers may be able to get into this film more than female because of the type of relationships that are built, but really it can be appreciated by anyone into great filmmaking.

Highly recommended. One of the best films I have seen in a long time.

Score: 9 / 10