The Age of Shadows

If you said to me that a Korean Film can beat 95% of the top films produced in the last 20 years, I would have serious doubts. To explain, I am an Hollywood Worshipper, a Hollywood lover and a picture goer with strong views, likes and dislikes. What we have here is a film that is in the same 'sleeper league; as the ShawShank Redemption, a film with a wonderful story, script, a great cast and one of the best films I have seen for ages. It shown on British TV 23 October 2019, my wife put it on, when she saw it was Korean she lost interest and went to bed, big mistake, I stayed, and was totally hypnotised and absorbed with it, great technical strides have been made in the last 40 years in every department of film production - but in Korea, with a foreign cast, with no familiar names, a film made for adults not 11-year old children, without one car chase, or male film star whose next film is to save the world, or rescue it from Mr Evil Doom, this Korean film Age of Shadows, is one to be fond of, to watch again and again, and in some respects to relive your great film memories sitting in the Empire Cinema, Stockton on Tees, England, when sitting in the Nine-Penny seats watching the African Queen, All About Eve, or the Wizard of Oz, Yes, it is that good. Watch it.

This film has strong commercial potential because of its suspenseful narrative structure; the bravado cinematography and editing; the strong acting; the powerfully evocative production design; and the effective musical score. Loved the entire look of the film. Love the sepia tone, the 1920s period costumes and sets, the compelling storyline, and the circularity of the narrative structure. To me, the strongest storytellers working today in cinema are from Asia, and that makes me so very happy as Asian cinema has lost a lot of its standing in World Cinema without the post-War (II) Japanese masters.

Score Grid (out of 4)

Script/Story: 4

Cinematography/Visual Effect: 4+

Editing: 4

Sound/Musical Score: 4

Production Design: 4+

Acting/Performance: 4

Recommend the film? Absolutely. This foreign film has the appeal of today's Hollywood products: the action, suspense, music, etc. The operatic concluding scene -- underscored by Ravel's Bolero -- owes so much to both Scorsese and FFCoppola. Also to Andrze Wajda really in look and feel; wonder if Kim Jee-woon is familiar with the Polish master's work?

Thumbs way up!

Well, that was a lot of fun. The Age of Shadows is a spy thriller that is basically a ticking bomb and once things go wrong, it just gets brutal and chaotic. The set up for these characters and their plot is well put together enough to be engrossing. And the set pieces are just excitingly executed. The film is unafraid of showing something terrible from their consequences. Though there is one point at the third act where I wished the film had ended. It gets to feel a little too long as it goes on, but man, the train sequence alone is one hell of an exercise for suspense. The production is also too impressive and the acting is quite engaging. Overall, it's a dark and brutal, yet quite an edge of your seat cinematic thrill ride.

Based on the real story that happened during the time that Japan ruled the Korea, The Age of Shadow is very successful history-based movie. It is a fine mixture of Korean characteristics and Western characteristics. Until these days, many Korean movies have sought for ways to put Korean-exclusive stories into the frame of Western film-making. The result has been somewhat successful but also somewhat disappointing. It fulfilled Korean people's wishes to watch Hollywood-ish Korean movies. However, it couldn't convince foreign people of the reason to watch Korean movies instead of Hollywood movies. I mean, no matter how hard Korean movies try, the budget is lower than Hollywood, and spectacles are also lesser.

However, this movie, The Age of Shadow, is different. This one is unique. I'm not going to praise action scenes, or comedy scenes because they were not that outstanding. What I want to praise is atmosphere in this movie that keeps suspense alive throughout the whole running time. Well, for better understanding I could use Quentin Tarantino as an example. Even though he is famous for violence in his movie, many people who watch his movies for the first time find them very non-blockbuster like but still quite amusing. The Age of Shadow is quite similar. This movie's acting, dialogue and visuals give this movie a special atmosphere that keep audiences' focus. I'm not saying that this movie is Tarantino-like though. Kim Jee-Woon and Tarantino are similar in a way that they use special atmosphere throughout the movie but their atmospheres are different. Kim Jee-Woon has the ability to form a Korean-exclusive atmosphere that is based on Korean culture. I'm not sure how to name it but it is something that can move Korean people's heart without stating it in a specific way. And I believe this movie will be quite amusing and also exotic experience for you if you are not Korean. This movie is not like other Korean movies, but also the most Korean-like movie. I recommend it.

"The Age of Shadows" is a historically inspired dramatic action-thriller about a group of Korean resistance fighters who are opposing the peninsula's Japanese occupation. Directed and written by creative mastermind Kim Jee-won and starring South Korean top actors like Lee Byung-hun, this epic film became South Korea's official submission for the "Best Foreign Language Film" category of the 89th Academy Awards in 2017. While the premises seemed to be very positive, I was slightly disappointed by the movie.

First of all, a much better movie with a very similar story line called "Assassination" was released only one year earlier and it beats this flick in terms of acting, pace, settings and story. It's quite difficult to identify with the main character in "The Age of Shadow" who constantly changes sides and doesn't seem to know what he believes in. Instead of portraying a man torn between two choices, the movie focuses on a rather antipathic and egoistic character who is thinking about his own advantage at all times. Even an outstanding actor like Song Kang-ho can't make this dull main character any more exciting.

"The Age of Shadow" starts with an explosive opening scene only to lead towards a lengthy introduction with endless dialogues and numerous characters. It takes close to one hour before the pace quickens up again. The first half of the movie is definitely too long and often lost my interest.

While the settings of the movie are very realistic and bring to life a genuine depiction of the Korean peninsula in the forties, the costumes and locations aren't as detailed and memorable as in many other South Korean high-quality productions.

The story remains somewhat shallow in my opinion. It's obvious that the members of the resistance are trying to attack the Japanese occupants but the film never really explains what they are organizing precisely. It's quite unsatisfying to realize that the resistance's charismatic leader is taking many risks by trusting a highly unreliable main character and personally organizing an attack against the enemy that is never ever specified. The ending also leaves many questions open and feels unfinished to me.

Despite these flaws, the movie also has many strong points. The side characters are portrayed excellently and add some depth to the movie. Especially the clever villain portrayed by Um Tae-goo is very creepy. The movie also convinces in its more intense passages. The opening scene is both dynamic and memorable. The climax on the train is very tense and will get you on the edge of your seat. The last thirty minutes of the film have a welcome dramatic and emotional touch. The settings are authentic and especially the scenes on the train, in different torture chambers and in the prison are beautifully crafted and provide a gripping and sinister atmosphere. While the story is maybe the movie's biggest flaw, it still requests some thinking from the audience and includes a few minor twists in the second half of the film that save this movie for me.

Maybe my rating would be slightly more generous if the excellent "Assassination" hadn't been released a year earlier. That film's excellent execution from any point of view makes "The Age of Shadows" look quite predictable, redundant and even unnecessary. Faithful fans of contemporary South Korean cinema should still watch both movies but I would only recommend "Assassination" to occasional international audiences. "The Age of Shadows" really pales in comparison to Choi Dong-hoon's "Assassination". On a closing note, South Korea should have chosen the outstanding horror film "The Wailing" as official submission for the "Best Foreign Language Film" category of the 89th Academy Awards in 2017.