Realização:
Jong-bin YoonArgumento:
Jong-bin YoonCâmara:
Chan-min ChoiMúsica:
Young-wook ChoElenco:
Jeong-min Hwang, Seong-min Lee, Jin-woong Cho, Ji-hoon Joo, Seong-hyeon Ryoo, Hong-fa Kim, Eung-soo Kim, Kwang-hyun Kim, Ji-soo Yang, Moon-chul Nam (mais)Sinopses(1)
In 1993, former military officer Park Suk-young is recruited as a spy by South Korea's National Intelligence Service, and given the codename "Black Venus". He is then sent to infiltrate a group of high-ranking North Korean officials based in Beijing, with the ultimate goal of acquiring information on the North's nuclear program. After becoming close to RiMyong-un, a key power broker, Black Venus succeeds beyond his wildest dreams of gaining the trust of North Korea's leadership. But political machinations on both sides of the border threaten to derail his accomplishments. (Cannes Film Festival)
(mais)Críticas (4)
Korean kind of Le tsar movie. In other words, a spy thriller about agreements concluded behind the closed doors, “wag a dog" and the infiltration of the other party through papers and trade agreements. What would have fitted this movie more is more refinement, less relieving one-liners (they are funny, but they don't match, not even remotely), more focus on silence, tension arising from the situation and the unspoken. It would have been better to slow the pace down occasionally and not to race forward like an action movie. In any case, even so excellent, culminating and with a typically South Korean emotional engagement, which in the final part pays off through the non-genre unexpectedly strong B-romance of the “south and the north".
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Inspirada por acontecimentos reais, esta é a história de um agente secreto sul-coreano que nos anos 90 foi encarregado de se infiltrar entre os líderes norte-coreanos com o objetivo de espionagem política e de guerra e de obter informações que confirmassem a existência do programa nuclear norte-coreano, disfarçado de homem de negócios que possuía segredos governamentais e que oferecia a comercialização de produtos norte-coreanos na terra dos seus vizinhos do sul. A narrativa, com rico enredo, é extremamente complexa e dinâmica e requer pelo menos uma perceção básica do contexto político e geográfico, uma vez que não há tempo para demasiadas explicações. Os cineastas, liderados por um realizador e argumentista mais do que capaz e por um elenco que se destaca na representação exata, trazem um thriller de espionagem soberano e praticamente perfeito, com um enredo, que gradua emocionante, construído em grande parte sobre os negócios e encontros políticos dramaticamente cativantes do protagonista com a elite governante norte-coreana, é levado a melhor em passagens excecionalmente realizadas de encontros com o senhor absoluto Kim Jong-il e de cidades norte-coreanas onde a miséria e pobreza comunistas contrastam com o cenário de exteriores imperialmente espetaculares. Por todos os aspetos um grande filme sobre as mudanças fundamentais na relação dos dois países da península coreana com o capitalismo e um com o outro (apenas os acontecimentos no Sul não são tão convincentes como os do Norte), sobre decisões políticas aos níveis mais altos, e sobre a vida num estado em que exprimir dissidência política significa arriscar a sua vida.
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After Kundo: Age of the Rampant, Yoon Jong-bin serves up another historical spy-themed drama with a perfect performance by Jeong-min Hwang, but for my taste the film was rather tedious and didn't offer enough interesting sequences for the given running time. There were suspenseful and interesting sequences when meeting the leader, but there weren't that many of those. Nicely shot, well acted and definitely an interesting insight into the political situation in North and South Korea. I'm not the target audience, so a neutral three. 60%.
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This one was really well done! From the reviews, I expected a high-quality minimalist film set in North and South Korea, and as a viewer, that’s exactly what I got. Visually, it’s incredibly polished, with excellent cinematography and brilliant editing that elevate the film to a whole new level. Acting-wise, I have no complaints; everyone involved delivered a convincing performance. The film handles tension perfectly, especially in the non-action sequences (though being a spy is inherently such an adrenaline-pumping situation that it’s hard to imagine otherwise). When you realize that it all revolves around the true story of a spy code-named "Black Venus," it left me chilled for a long time after watching. The ending at least warmed my heart a bit, it must be said. All in all, an excellent dialogue-driven drama on a topic that’s quite distant for us Central Europeans. Even for the interesting insight it provides, which gave me a ton of new information, I have to give this well-made film an 8/10. Fantastic :)
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