Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageWelcome to Dongmakgol (2005)
Director: Kwang-hyun Park
Movie review
From Time Out London
Kwang-Hyun Park’s engaging, competently directed debut, a provocatively pacifist Cold War drama set after the 1950 UN amphibious invasion at Inchon, near the border of North and South Korea, was a surprise and massive domestic hit. Its sentimental story sees two separate trios of cut-off troops from opposing sides (the UN platoon includes a downed US Navy pilot) adopting an uncertain truce as they stumble upon a Shangri-La-like rural village innocent of martial corruption. Park is clearly mindful of the increased levels of unease caused by the recent belligerent stance of Pyongyang as well as deep-seated historical notions of sundered ‘brotherhood’ in his divided country. He adopts, nevertheless, a broadly farcical, sometimes pantomimic approach – including bizarre sequences of baseball, karate and hill-sledding or singing boogie-woogie – often reminiscent of the initial humanist comedy of Kurosawa’s ‘Seven Samurai’, before tragic ironies come exploding in. Some aspects of the film’s parable – along with its Arcadian rural romanticism and winsome magical elements – may be lost on Western audiences, but its gently affecting characterisations and pleas on the waste of war are universal enough. The film shares its rhetoric with one of the soldiers: ‘How in the world did this get so mixed up?’.Author: Wally Hammond
Time Out London
Cast & crew
Director: Kwang-hyun Park
Cast: Shin Ha-Kyun, Jeong Jae-yeong, Hye-Jeong Kang, Jon Emm, Im Ha-Ryong, Ryoo Deok-Hwan, Seo Jae-Kyung, Steve Taschler full cast
Rated: 15
Duration: 133 mins
UK Release: Feb 2 2007
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now