I know this looks like it’s turning into a theme, but every time I feel like posting up a foreign film (all Korean so far, I know, but it just happens to be my current obsession XD) there always seems to be a Hollywood remake lurking around the corner. So, I end up posting both so everyone can have a looksie.

Today’s post has to do with the UNBELIEVABLY ENGAGING and all round SUPER EXCITING HEART WRENCHINGISH movie Joint Security Area or JSA. I just watched this last night and almost wish I didn’t because it’s so good and now I can’t watch anything else for a while until I get over the deep and meaningful sensitivitiness and emotionalism of this one. *SniFFLe*

Anyhoo, so the movie takes place in the Demilitiarized Zone of Communist North Korea and Capitalist South Korea. It all starts one night, when two North Korean soldiers are murdered out of the blue, causing the promise of serious conflict to erupt from the already dangerously frail relationships between the two Koreas.

To avoid such an event, a special investigation is led by Swedish and Swiss investigators from the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission. The mission is led by Major Sophie E. Jean (That’s her in the middle), and she must question the survivors of the shooting incident Sgt. Lee Soo-Hyeok (Hottie on the left) and Sgt. Oh Kyeong-Pil (Old guy on the right, but he gets really super cool in the movie) to figure out what actually happened that night. What she discovers while unraveling the mystery gets curiouser and curiouser…

Super Cool movie! A million stars all round darnit! This movie was the highest grossing in Korean history by 2001 and Hollywood is supposedly filming a remake to be released sometime this year (2008) called Joint Security America and directed by David Franzoni. I believe they will be using the same plot but this one will be shot at the American-Mexican border. “A female Spanish army officer is sent by the U.N. to investigate a bloody encounter between U.S. Marines and Mexican Special Forces” Yup yup, preeeeety similar. I’ll be interested to see how they make it work as well as the original though, seeing as people cross over the border everyday:

Whereas pretty much no one is allowed to cross over the Bridge of No Return.

Still, there will always be a market for remakes. I doubt just any American or Western person in general would go rummaging through random Asian movies to find a good one. Although there will be a lot of general groaning and moaning from the fans of the original movie, I say if it helps to promote it to a wider audience then it’s alllllll good (Provided people realize where the original came from and don’t assume the rip-off happened the other way round -_-;)

Some Random Pretty Cool Trivia. Did you know…

• This is another little gem by director Park Chan-Wook, the genius that brought us Oldboy. This came first though ^^
• The Village of Panmunjeom (The Joint Security Area) was recreated for the movie in excess of some $800,000 since shooting at the actual site would of course never be permitted.
• The DVD of this movie was given to North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-II by South Korea’s President Roh Moo-Hyun during the Korean summit in October 2007. (I wonder what he thought of it. Probably hated it since it showed being-kind-to-each-otherness -_-)
• Although the movie was a huge hit with the public, It wasn’t so with the Korean army. Twenty older members of the JSA Veterans’ Association stormed into the office of Myung Film demanding that the production company issue a public apology to the army and insert notices at the beginning and end of the movie stating that it is a work of fiction. After four hours, the employees of Myung Film acquiesced, and despite vocal objection from the film industry, the group’s demands are being met.

Anyway…

Come watch JOINT SECURITY AREA here!!

The Korean original with English subtitles of course. The American version hasn’t come out yet. When it does, check back here Enjoy!