how do you judge a film that centres around a modern historical event & biopic, written for a patriotic domestic audience whose minds are still afresh with emotions of the era?
song kang-ho plays enterprising tax-turned-human rights lawyer sung woo-suk, who is not so discreetly modelled after roh moo hyun, who was also involved in the 1987 uprisings against korea’s then-authoritarian rule and later became the president of korea. the film takes place in 1981, when the spectre of the 1980 gwangju uprising looms large in everyone’s minds. for historical context, the 1980s was a dark period in korea’s history, when korea was ruled by a series of authoritarian and heavy-handed presidents. the images of 1980 gwangju often remind people of tiananmen.
having been treated kindly by an ahjumae who sells gukbapwhen he was a poor construction worker studying to become a lawyer, song sacrifices his lucrative career to defend her son and university students, who have been arrested on the counts of studying contraband literature that promotes socialist unrest. in a plot that closely narrates reality, song sets out to prove the innocence of these university students and expose the inhumane torture methods employed by the police to extract confessions.
there is little room to comment on the plot itself, given that the film is so tightly tethered to historical events (in the same way that i am frustrated by the plot in juror 8). often i find that historical films get more creative leniency when remaking events that happen generations ago (say the age of shadows), or are based on unique strands (a taxi driver). but this film is so wholeheartedly patriotic and historical, that it loses nuance and self-awareness. in an impassioned exchange, the villainous cop instructs song that this is a case of national security, and the law does not apply to national security cases. the camera then closes up on song - “who decides what cases are of national security? you said the country? who constitutes the country? according to the constitution, the country is its people & their freedoms!” tell me this is not a clear appeal to the audience’s patriotism (don’t get me wrong, i actually liked this scene the most.. song’s acting brought tears to my eyes! it’s just in your face)
at 2h 17m, the film lags and drags on at certain moments too. a lot of background-setting around roh/sung, and plenty of police brutality scenes. when you know that there are no surprises round the corner, the scenes become slightly self indulgent.
and when historical films like these are made, characterisation is often sacrificed. song tried to imbibe his character with as much depth as possible (the everyman rockstar overcoming inner turmoil with a strong moral compass), and im si-wan did a deft job at portraying the emaciated soulless student. but those familiar with korean history will also know that roh, although very much celebrated as a folk hero through sung, committed suicide in 2009 after intense bribery allegations. given a somewhat divided national memory of roh, this film is uncomfortably generous in its praise and commemoration of his activist legacy. it is fine to celebrate his deeds independently of what he did before or after, but to do so without nuance is slightly irresponsible film-making.
ironically, what i got most out of the film was a critical appreciation of historiography and historical memory in film-making. being a trained historian, seeing e.h. carr’s what is history? accused of instigating fascism provoked a lot of thinking. on one hand, the above is criticism of the film, but on the other, it is a demonstration of how engaged i am with the film’s material. i think there are better films about 1980s korea, but here is a decent one if you need a nationalistic jolt. – 6/10
truth is, this was never going to be a genuine oscars foreign film contender (korea’s nomination should’ve been the handmaiden).the age of shadows is a move that delivers on execution but not plot. plot-wise it checks every trick that a double-agent movie could possibly possess, in five acts.
act i- seoul (or gyeongseong / keijo to be more accurate, which was seoul’s name during the japanese occupation). a group of korean rebels are out to import bombs from shanghai to resist japan’s occupation of korea in the 1920s, and two cops with the japanese forces (a deftly assuring Song Kang-ho plays the morally conflicted protagonist, and a scene-stealing Uhm Tae-goo plays the quick-to-anger, caricatured japanese) are tasked to arrest them alive. the cops make contact with the rebels (right hand man Gong Yoo), and the rebels take off to shanghai.
act ii- shanghai, republican china. Song is persuaded by Gongand his boss, leader of the rebel forces (played by Lee Byung-heon, who possibly is the only chungmuro star whose cinematic weight could convince viewers that he outranks SongandGong) to deceive the japanese police to buy the rebels time to export the bombs. Song remindsGong that “I cannot guarantee what form I’ll be in, the next time we meet”.
act iii- shanghai express train, and by far, the best act of the film. it is revealed that the rebels’ have a mole in their team, and SongandGong team up to out the mole (Shin Sung-rok).Song proves his loyalty to the rebels and kills Uhm, and parts with “The next time we meet, either I will be dead, you will be dead, or we will both be dead”. ok, we get it.
act iv- arrival back at seoul + bombs. the rebels are caught at the train station. who knew immigration checks could be so intense. Han Ji-min’s character, love interest to Gong’s, is captured and brutally tortured (her bloodcurling scream was genuinely memorable). Song is tasked to lure Gong in to prove his loyalty to the Japanese empire, and soothing lounge music is effectively deployed against objectively heart-wrenching scenes of Japanese forces capturing the other rebels. when asked by an ex-rebel, Songagrees to help Gong, but this turns out to be a trap by the Japanese forces, who had all along doubted Song’s allegiance because of his ethnicity.
act v- at trial, Song denounces his affiliation with the rebels and proclaims loyalty to the Japanese empire, and is acquitted. but this is all part of Gong’s plan, concocted upon realisation of the trap, when he begged Song to never admit his association with the rebels, so that Song could not let the other rebels’ sacrifice go to waste, continue the mission and bomb the japanese unit, which he did. i teared. we end with Lee’svoiceover (to a Korean patriot’s quote, i suspect), “we must step on the bodies that have sacrificed to stand closer to independence.” and Song, who is the only survivor of the attack, replies, “we must see each other again”
i especially enjoyed the film because i was familiar with the historical context and used to the anti-Japanese patriotic double-agent tropes that ever so often appears in korean / chinese films. and i suspect this is why international audiences may flounder slightly more with the convoluted side-switching in the film.
i really enjoyed the richness of the directing and cinematography. the shanghai express train act was very creative - the narrowness of the corridors emphasises the constraints of the rebels as they try to hide, but the lengthy expansiveness of the train itself allowed for the camera to whip back and forth to good storytelling effect. we follow the swivelling camera just as we follow in the confusion of Song,Gong, andUhm as they try to size each other up. i’ve never watched this director’s films before, but the good the bad the weird (affectionately called “nom nom nom” by locals) and i saw the devil have been on my list.
the weakness of the film is obvious. the cast, while pretty and undoubtedly capable, is imbalanced when put to use. Song practically carried the entire film, even patching up the gaps in the script and character development. Gong is charming but i personally think he has still a bit more to go before he becomes a truly charismatic chungmuro lead, in the same way that Song,Lee orYoo Ah-in are.Lee was technically a cameo, but his presence in the 3 extended cameo scenes was so important that it outshone Sung, who i thought was terribly underused in his role as a mole. i personally like Han as an actress a lot, and she pulled off her scenes brilliantly, but i related so little to her death because we had no real backstory.
regardless, once in a while you need a good espionage, double-agent, cat-and-mouse thriller, and the age of shadows delivers just that excellently. i think this is a slicker version of hong kong’s infernal affairs, and should be commended accordingly. –8.5/10
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