2009: Lost Memories (2002)

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.

Director:

Si-myung Lee

Writers:

Sang-hak Lee, Si-myung Lee

Stars:

Kil-Kang Ahn, Masaaki Daimon, Shôhei Imamura

5 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Kil-Kang Ahn	...	Myung-Hak Lee
Masaaki Daimon
Shôhei Imamura
Dong-gun Jang	...	Masayuki Sakamoto
Nobuyuki Katsube
Gyu-ri Kim	...	Kindergarten teacher (as Min-sun Kim)
Sa-Pi Lee
Ken Mitsuishi	...	Hideyo
Tôru Nakamura	...	Shojiro Saigo
Jin-ho Seo	...	Hye-Rin Oh
Goo Shin	...	Takahashi
Sang-Jeon Woo
Miki Yoshimura	...	Yuriko Saigo

Storyline

There are breakpoints in the history, the result of a single event may change the whole course... In 1909, an assassination attempt of a Japanese governor fails - the assassin was shot by a soldier. Now, in 2009, Korea is just another state of the Japan Empire and Seoul has become a major city. A Korean resistance group called Hureisenjin is formed to fight for liberty and independence. Two cops, a Japanese and a Korean (who denies his heritage) are investigating the actions of this "terrorist" group. And their work lead them to an artifact of the ancient Korean religion of "Sun and Moon".

---

Plot Keywords:

korean | japan | artifact | resistance | japanese | 

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive strong violence

Details

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean Japanese

Release Date:

1 February 2002 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

2009 Memórias Perdidas

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment, Indecom Cinema, Tube Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Sakamoto dives behind the couch you can see that next to his gun holster, on the back of the couch, there is a mound exactly where the squib for the gunshot is going to go off.

---

Connections

References Ahn Jung-geun, Patriot (1972)

User Reviews

Nice Idea, Shame About the Movie

I picked up this movie channel surfing the other night and expected it to last until 2am. Much to my personal regret, it went past 3am, and I want my time back.

I caught it from around the beginning and thought it was a Japanese movie somehow on the foreign movie channel - Japanese actors, Japanese dialog (even though the lead still had a bit of an accent). Watching this movie as someone who lives in Tokyo, it was interesting visually to see the Korean take on a "Japanese City" and "Japanese Police" (the "JBI" - gotta love it). I really love the visual style of Korean movies and videos, and have enjoyed more than a few Korean movies (and I have to say, Japan produces a fair too many clunker movies, Korea has a better strike rate).

I'll give the movie credit for being intriguing (you get hooked in wondering "what is this") and even giving an interesting story. Setting aside wetting my pants at the Japanese stereotypes that come through (nationalistic, cold, emotionless, particularly enjoyed his partner wearing kimono on his time off, having a huge house with a rock garden, and a subservient wife who bows and doesn't talk back - oh I WISH!), I was rather looking forward to the stylized action sequences.

This is where I was let down. Now pardon me if I'm wrong, but Mr. Hero is standing here in front of 6 masked bad guys letting off a hail of Uzi fire, yet he seems to find 5 minutes to drop his gun and tearfully look at children/ friends/ loved ones falling over in slow motion as violin music cuts in over the background.

Honestly, can one person here who liked this movie honestly say they actually forgot that the guy is surrounded by guys with machine guns and was pulled into any kind of emotion by the violin music? The nationalism bugged me (just as it would for a Japanese movie) but I know this is the Korean style, so it didn't bother me too much. But honestly, unless you are a hardcore fan of Korean cinema style, I wouldn't bother with this - there are much better examples out there.