JSA: Joint Security AreaPark Chan-Wook's 'Vengeance Trilogy' not only established his own name in Western cinematic circles, it also helped elevate the standing of Korean cinema to previously unheard levels. Therefore, it's interesting to see one of his earlier efforts, a film very much made with the domestic market in mind. If his later revenge thrillers take place against an unspoken political backdrop of a troubled country split between two inflexible ideologies, then this film tackles that division head on.
The film takes place at the border between the two halves of the country. A cross-border skirmish has left two North Korean border guards dead. In an attempt to prevent escalation into full conflict, both sides agree to let neutral military investigators (from Switzerland and Sweden) carry out an investigation to resolve the issue. The Swiss investigator, a young woman of Korean descent, immediately realises that the reports of the incident from both sides are self-serving packs of lies, and that her role is to supply a diplomatic sticking plaster for the benefit of both sides. Nonetheless, she needs to know what really happened...
The film is nowhere near assured as later films like
Oldboy; Park shows talent as a director but little discipline. He fills the film with showy effects (odd angles, overstated visual rhymes) which only serve to distract from the storytelling. Whereas these touches suited the more baroque narratives of his later films,
JSA is a more conventional picture that feels overdressed. Furthermore, Lee Yeong-Ae (as the Swiss detective) is a somewhat insipid lead; she is nothing like as imposing as she was in the later
Lady Vengeance. It all feels a bit formulaic, like a Hollywood police procedural drama.
Nonetheless, the film improves in the middle sections (partly because Lee disappears altogether). These sections form an extended flashback, showing the surprising lead-up to the fatal incident. Although there are intriguing details throughout this section, it still feels a lot like a conventional buddy movie. However, it is well played (particularly by Song Kang-Ho, the distinctive thick-set actor from
Memories of Murder and
Sympathy For Mr Vengeance), and is emotionally satisfying. Unfortunately, once we return to the present for the denouement, the film unravels somewhat. The conclusion is messy and psychologically muddled.
Even so, this is worth watching, if only to fill in some of the background details for Park's later films. And it is certainly one from the heart - this interestingly implies that capitalist South Korea is as in thrall to deceptive ideologies as the communist North (which still follows the legacy of the notoriously barking Kim Il-Sung); it's just that the South is a little more subtle in its presentational skills. Finally, Park puts his directorial skills to good use - the final shot is fascinating.