“The Spy Gone North” Doesn’t Go South
Genre：Drama
Director：Jong-bin Yoon
Cast：Jung-Min Hwang、JU Ji-hoon、Jin-Woong Cho、Sung-Min Lee
Viola's Rating：8.6
How well do you know about Korean
DMZ (Demilitarized Zone)? Is it just a geographical term for you, or there’s
more? As most audience is familiar with special agents such as James Bond,
Jason Bourne or all the famous spies in Hong Kong feature films, “The Spy Gone
North” is a Korean drama depicting a monumental, historical secret mission,
which was released in the US on Aug. 17, 2018.
Loosely based on the true story of a former South Korean agent, who
infiltrated North Korea's nuclear facilities, Park
Chae-seo, “The Spy Gone North” is set in the mid-1990s; a loyal South Korean
secret agent is caught in a political vortex schemed by the ruling classes of
North and South Korea.
“The Spy Gone North” is told through first-person narrative. From the
point Black Venus (Hwang Jung-min) decides to join the project a little bit
reluctantly without really knowing the reason, to the time when he needs to
prepare himself for the undertaking, all details are demonstrated to moviegoers
in order to have more understanding of Black Venus’ mission. Also, because of
this attribute, audience isn’t omniscient; they can only experience the process
along with Black Venus and feel his courage, fear and nerves.
Featuring several award-winning actors, “The Spy Gone North” not only made
its world premiere at 2018 Cannes Film Festival, and was selected as one of the
Midnight Screenings, but also was nominated as seven major awards for 2018 Busan
International Film Festival.
Within the amazing actors of the film are Cho Jin-woong, Hwang Jung-min,
Ju Ji-hoon and Lee Sung-min. They are no strangers to moviegoers who follow
Korean dramas or flicks, not to mention that Ju Ji-hoon and Lee Sung-min both
have another motion picture coming out recently.
“The Spy Gone North” is 137 minutes long, and the first part of it seems
a little bit slow since the director’s trying to explain Black Venus’ project
clearly with complicated details. However, once the character finally gets to
meet Korean officials face to face for the first time, the pace and tense increase
a lot. The excitement and feelings stay until the end of the movie.
There’s much foreshadowing being set in “The Spy Gone North”. Even
though there aren’t many characters, throughout the picture, all the actions
actors take and all the tokens shown have a hidden meaning, waiting for the
audience to find out. Besides, shooting in Taiwan gives Taiwanese enthusiasts
another way to enjoy “The Spy Gone North” by spotting the familiar scenes.
Just as its name suggest, “The Spy Gone North” doesn’t go south at all.
On the contrast, it’s one of the best feature films in 2018 which provides
history information.
Picture Credit: IMDb
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