Yun Ju-sang Movies
- 2005
Director Lee Myung-se returns to the screen with his long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed 1999 policier Nowhere to Hide. Duelist takes place in Korea during the Chosun dynasty, where a large-scale counterfeiting scheme threatens to send the whole country into chaos. Two cops, Detective Ahn (Ahn Sung-kee, who played the killer in Nowhere to Hide) and his young protégé, Namsoon (Ha Ji-won of Phone), stumble upon the plot while they're working undercover at a street fair. A masked swordsman (Kang Dong-won, whose character is identified in the credits as "Sad Eyes") uses his amazing skills to distract onlookers while he pulls off a robbery. Namsoon doggedly pursues him, and finds herself strangely but inexorably drawn to the young man, even as they have one violent encounter after another. While Sad Eyes relies on his swordsmanship, Namsoon is an expert with her two daggers. Their skills are comparable, and inconveniently enough, they seem to be falling in love. Eventually, the police investigation leads to Sad Eyes' employer, the Minister of Defense (Song Young-chang, another frequent collaborator of director Lee's), who is apparently using the counterfeiting plot in an effort to take over the government. Duelist had its New York premiere at the 2006 New York Asian Film Festival, presented by Subway Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ha Ji-weon, Gang Dong-weon, (more)
- 2004
Writer/director Ryu Seung-wan (No Blood No Tears) directs his brother Ryu Seung-beom again in Arahan, marketed as "Urban Martial Arts Action." Actor Ryu plays Yu Sang-hwan, a bungling but honest patrolman. One day while chasing a purse-snatcher, he comes across a beautiful convenience store cashier and part-time martial arts master named Eun-jin (Yoon So-yi, making her feature debut), whom he finds about to deliver a devastating "palm blast" to the young thug he's just chased down. Eun-jin's aim is off, and Yu ends up knocked unconscious. She brings him back home to the temple of the "Seven Masters," a group of five cranky ch'i masters led by her father, Ja-un (Ahn Sung-Ki from Nowhere to Hide and Slimido). Ja-un quickly recognizes Yu's amazing untapped potential. Yu thinks the five old-timers are a bunch of kooks, but he's attracted to Eun-jin, and after he gets beaten up by some low-level gangsters, he returns to the temple, determined to learn how to do a "palm blast," so he can fight back. Ja-un patiently tries to teach him the ways of ch'i, but Yu is not the most attentive pupil. He wants to learn powerful fighting techniques, and seems more interested in gawking at Eun-jin than in the philosophical and spiritual underpinnings of the Seven Masters' teachings. But push comes to shove when a former Master, Heug-un (fight choreographer Jung Doo-hong), who betrayed the cause returns from centuries underground determined to seize the ultimate power and rule the world. Ja-un believes that the seemingly hopeless Yu is the only hope for humankind. Arahan was shown at the 2005 New York Asian Film Festival, presented by Subway Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- 2004
Korean superstar Song Gang-ho (Memories of Murder) stars in writer/director Lim Chan-sang's ambitious feature debut, The President's Barber. Song stars as Seong Han-mo, a barber whose shop is within shouting distance of the "Blue House," where the president (Jo Yeong-jin) lives. The film takes place during the early '70s, a tumultuous period in South Korea's history, and Seong finds himself in the middle of a number of historical events. Seong doesn't know much about politics, and follows the lead of local leaders, who involve him in a scheme to rig an election in the president's favor. His son Nak-an (Lee Jae-eung) is born during the April 19 revolution, while soldiers are gunning down protestors in the street. Later, he inadvertently gets in the middle of a bitter political rivalry between Park (Park Yong-su), the head of the CIA, and Jang (Son Byeong-ho), the head of the secret service. When he inadvertently embarrasses Park, Jang rewards him by helping him become the president's personal barber. Park's prestige grows among his neighbors, and his life improves. Even his nagging wife, Min-ja (Moon So-ri of Oasis and A Good Lawyer's Wife), is proud of him. His relatively carefree, oblivious life is thrown into turmoil when the government starts rounding up people with diarrhea, purportedly to help them track down collaborators with sick North Korean spies. Little Nak-an gets sick, and Seong misguidedly tries to prove his loyalty to the dictator by turning the boy in, thinking no harm will come to him. But he's underestimated the brutal irrationality of his leaders. The President's Barber had its international premiere at the 2005 New York Korean Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Song Kang-ho, Moon So-ri, (more)
This film opens with a young man arriving at an apartment and ending up on a concrete slab getting slowly dismembered with a scalpel by an unseen killer. That unfortunate soul, along with a number of other hapless victims, turns up in a bunch of plastic garbage bags littered around Seoul during Korea's steamy, rainy season. Burnt-out cop Jo (Han Suk-Kyu) is assigned to head up the investigation. The killer, who puts the limbs of a body with the corpse of another, clearly must have a basic grasp of surgery, Jo and his colleague Oh (Jang Hang-seon) quickly surmise. Their inquiry soon leads them to Chae Su-yeon (Korean idol Shim Eun-ha), a beautiful museum restorer who knew three of the victims. At first, she is wary and unresponsive. The cops' attention is briefly turned toward Kim Ki-yeon (Yu Jun-sang), an obsessive suitor of Chae who had not been seen for several days, that is, until a video tape surfaces of the missing man getting his legs lopped off. Later, as Chae begins to divulge the dark secrets of her past -- sexual abuse and the fiery death of a friend -- the body count grows and the murders become more gruesome. Director Chang Yoon-hyun's profoundly creepy "hardgore" thriller was a major box-office success in its native South Korea, matching that of Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (1999). ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shim Eun-Ha
A renegade Korean submarine threatens to nuke Japan in this high-octane suspense drama. After getting court-martialed and sentenced to death for slaying a deranged superior officer, protagonist Lee Chan-suk (Cheong We-seong) finds himself sentenced to life on the Phantom, South Korean's first nuclear sub. Branded 431, Lee leaves port under the command of an old, hoary captain assigned to investigate reports that the Japanese are building their own nuclear sub. On the way, crazed first mate 202 kills the captain. Arguing that the desperate act is needed to restore Korean pride after a century of Japanese colonization and American exploitation, he plots to launch a nuclear strike against Japan. In order to accomplish his dastardly plans, however, he needs both launch keys, and one was entrusted to 431 by the captain just before he died. 431 prudently hides somewhere in the sub's bowels while 202 resolves to nuke Japan by any means necessary. Phantom, the Submarine was screened at the 1999 Pusan Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Choe Minsu, Cheong Wu-seong, (more)
