2009: Lost Memories (2002)

Director:

Si-myung Lee

Writers:

Sang-hak Lee (writer)
Si-myung Lee (writer)

Release Date:

1 February 2002 (South Korea)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

A failed assassination attempt in Harbin, China in 1909 changes the course of history. Now two JBI agents must find the connections between it and an ancient Korean artifact.

Plot Keywords:

Kumdo | Explosion | Gun | False History | Exploding Car

Awards:

5 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Kil-Kang Ahn	...	Myung-Hak Lee
Masaaki Daimon
Shohei Imamura
Dong-Kun Jang	...	Masayuki Sakamoto
Nobuyuki Katsube
Min-sun Kim	...	Kindergarten teacher
Sa-Pi Lee
George Manley	...	Inoue Man (voice: English version)
Ken Mitsuishi	...	Hideyo
Tôru Nakamura	...	Shojiro Saigo
Jin-ho Seo	...	Hye-Rin Oh
Goo Shin	...	Takahashi
Miki Yoshimura	...	Yuriko Shojiro

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong violence.

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-15 | Malaysia:18SG | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Germany:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:12 | USA:R

Company:

CJ Entertainment

Goofs:

Continuity: Sakamoto has several spots of blood on his shirt including one on his left shoulder. After Saigo helps him escape, as he walks down the street, the spot of blood on his left shoulder is gone.

Movie Connections:

References Uisa Ahn Jung-geun (1972)

An exciting action-packed drama with some imagination!

This movie is the newest success of the rising Korean film industry. It's got drama, plot, action, emotions, and nice acting all rolled into one, on the background of a fantastical assumption on a twist of real history.

Note on the title. The setting is the year 2009, and the film is based on the assumption that Korea is still a colony of Japan, as it had been for the past 100 years, because a single assassination attempt back in 1909, which succeeded in real life, failed and changed the whole course of history for the past 100 years in this alternative story. A Korean-born special agent tries to set the history right, and his colleague, a Japanese-born and a friend of his, tries to stop him.

Although made in Korea, dialogues are about 70% Japanese, and you have to have some knowledge in the history of the two countries to fully understand this movie, but the setting and basis is very imaginative and fascinating, that anybody can appreciate it. The two stars of the movie, Dong-Kun Jang and Toru Nakamura, who are Korean and Japanese in real life, are very fine, and make up a nice team. The action scenes, which are plenty in this movie, are nicely choreographed and serve to contribute to the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The Korean film industry is growing, so the next time you catch a Korean movie, it could be this one!