Poongsan

2011 [KOREAN]

Action / Drama / Romance

6
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 56% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 56%
IMDb Rating 6.5/10 10 968 968

north korean defector north korea inter-korean relations

Plot summary

Poongsan has the unenviable - and death-defying - job of delivering messages across the North and South Korean border to separated families. When South Korean government agents ask him to smuggle in In-ok, the lover of a high-ranking North Korean defector, into the South, the damsel and rescuer fall in love instead.

Director

Jai-hong Juhn Photo
Jai-hong Juhn

Top cast

Seon-kyu Jin Photo
Seon-kyu Jin as North Korean soldier
Joe Odagiri Photo
Joe Odagiri as North Korean border guard 1
Gyu-ri Kim Photo
Gyu-ri Kim as In-ok
Bum-Joon Kim Photo
Bum-Joon Kim as Agent 2
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.01 GB
1280*694
Korean 2.0
NR
Subtitles kr  
23.976 fps
2 hr 1 min
Seeds ...
1.94 GB
1920*1040
Korean 2.0
NR
Subtitles kr  
23.976 fps
2 hr 1 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by gabrielemorra 5 / 10

Pop-corn movie

I started to watch this movie after searching "Kim Ki Duk" on YouTube. I thought first that he was the director and found out only after finishing to see it that Kim Ki Duk had only written the script, otherwise this would have been just a major disappointment. Apparently Kim Ki Duk, who produced it, Juhn Jai-hong, the director, wanted to make a pop-corn movie for less than 200,000 dollars. And if this was the goal, they have succeeded in that, as this is just a typical movie with a lot of shootings and unrealistic scenes a bit like in Rambo, or in a Bruce Lee movie. Only 3-4 times one recognizes the "touch" of Kim Ki Duk in the script, however if the story was potentially interesting, and provoking for somebody like me who lives in Korea, one just feels that it was too much like a B-movie, that the director lacks experience, and probably also a decent budget. Also in many Kim Ki Duk movies, like "Dream", for example, there are unrealistic parts in the script, but the movie is always so well done, the photography is so great that it compensate for all the rest. Here it is not so and I believe that cutting 30 minutes or so would have saved me some moments of absolute boringness in the mid of the movie. Overall I gave 5 star as an encouragement for the young director for producing it in such a short time, some good ideas and for some panoramas of Korea that I always like to watch.
Reviewed by kriszti-39900 9 / 10

worth watching

I didn't know what to expect from the film's summary. The first half of the movie is how he gets out and delivers the woman who is meant to be the 'big love' of an important older man (who by the way seems very sympathetic at the beginning but he becomes less and less while the story progresses). If someone yearns for 'heated conversations' between the main characters, then it will be a huge disappointment because the male character in lead doesn't say a word throughout the whole movie. I think there would too much to say therefore he rather remains silent. Anyway, after the woman is delivered, it turns out that the older lover boy is not as gentle as he seemed and she would rather return to North Korea. Unfortunately it never happens. The way the main character deals with the opposing parties is brilliant though and very comical. It is a very sad and desperate story of people who are forced into overwhelming situations and they appear to be 'chess figures' on a board without having any influence on their own lives.
Read more IMDb reviews

4 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment