Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok (Lee Byung-hun) and Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil (Song Kang-ho) see things from different sides in JOINT SECURITY AREA
JOINT SECURITY AREA (Park Chan-wook, 2000)
Tribeca Cinemas
54 Varick St. at Laight St.
Tuesday, June 29, 7:00
Admission: free; reservations accepted at info@koreanculture.org or 212-759-9550
www.subwaycinema.com
www.koreanculture.org
While most free Korean Movie Nights at Tribeca Cinemas focus on newer films, this week it reaches back to 2000 to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the Korean War. Park Chan-wook’s (the Vengeance Trilogy) drama takes place at the DMZ Joint Security Area known as Panmunjeom, the dividing line between North and South Korea and where soldiers from each country actually face one another directly. Major Sophie Jean of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (Lee Young-Ae) has arrived to investigate the violent murder of two North Korean officers but discovers during her inquiry that key facts are missing involving South Korean hero Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok’s (Lee Byung-hun) relationship to injured North Korean Sgt. Oh Kyeong-pil (Song Kang-ho). Told in a series of flashbacks, the gripping story deals with duty, honor, courage, and brotherhood — as well as the absurdity that war and politics inject into individual behavior and common human decency. As always, Song Kang-ho’s (THE HOST, THIRST) big, round face dominates the screen, his hulking figure at the center of the controversy.