This film is part of Rentals
The Age of Shadows
Kim Jee-woon’s stunning, seductive and serpentine action thriller set during Japan’s occupation of Korea.
Director: Kim Jee-woon
Overview
Acclaimed director Kim Jee-woon (A Bittersweet Life, I Saw the Devil) returns to South Korea, following his Hollywood Arnie vehicle The Last Stand, for this a stunning, richly textured thriller set in the 1930s during Japan’s occupation of Korea. That ever-present star of Korean cinema Song Kang-ho (The Host, Thirst) plays an embittered police captain, Lee Jung-chool, charged with rooting out subversives for his Japanese masters. When local resistance leader Che-san (Lee Byung-hun) suspects Lee might be primed for turning, he tries to enlist him as a double-agent. What follows is a sprawling, suspenseful and serpentine action film that also resurfaces a painful and rarely rendered period of Korean history.
Anyone familiar with Kim’s previous works will unsurprised at the intricate brilliance of his action set pieces, including a breath-taking sequence aboard a train that recalls his earlier The Good the Bad and the Weird. Coming in the same year as The Handmaiden and Okja, Kim’s Age of Shadows represents a third homeland return for another of Korean cinema’s titans, along with Park chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho, all of whom met with varying degrees of success with their previous Hollywood-backed dalliances (The Last Stand, Stoker and Snowpiercer, respectively). As such it’s a pertinent reminder of the continuing power and potency of Korean film.
Related
Kill Kill
Action and Adventure 2023 105 mins Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
A pair of commandos square off against savage bandits in this breathless action thriller set on a moving train.
La Chimera La Chimera
Action and Adventure 2023 132 mins Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Alice Rohrwacher’s fascinating new drama finds Josh O’Connor’s fish out of water delving into the world of stolen artefacts.
High Ground High Ground
Action and Adventure 2019 105 mins Director: Stephen Maxwell Johnson
A young Indigenous man teams up with a policeman to track down a warrior outlaw in this piercing exploration of justice and morality within the Australian settlement.
Vesper Vesper
Action and Adventure 2022 114 mins Director: Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper
In a desolate post-apocalyptic future, a young teenage survivor has to avoid scrutiny from her uncle (a menacing Eddie Marsan) and the ruthless authorities pursuing her in this dark and dangerous fairytale.
Embrace of the Serpent Embrace of the Serpent
Action and Adventure 2015 124 mins Director: Ciro Guerra
The spirit of Werner Herzog and Apocalypse Now imbue this majestic Oscar-nominated odyssey through the heart of the Amazon.
Arctic Arctic
Action and Adventure 2019 98 mins Director: Joe Penna
Mads Mikkelsen astounds in this gripping tale of one man’s gruelling fight for survival against the elements.
Dead Ringers Dead Ringers
Horror 1988 116 mins Director: David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg's multi award-winning psychological thriller exploring the bizarre lives of identical twins Elliot and Beverly, both played by Jeremy Irons.
Mulholland Dr. Mulholland Dr.
Thriller 2001 142 mins Director: David Lynch
David Lynch’s beautifully baffling, surreal psychological thriller.
Anatomy of a Fall Anatomy of a Fall
Crime 2023 152 mins Director: Justine Triet
Justine Triet's gripping, Palme d'Or-winning psycho-thriller is deeply intelligent with a spellbinding performance from Sandra Hüller.
Love Lies Bleeding Love Lies Bleeding
Romance 2023 104 mins Director: Rose Glass
Rose Glass’s gripping and gory follow-up to Saint Maud finds a lesbian couple drawn into a web of violence in 1980s small-town New Mexico.
Kill Kill
Action and Adventure 2023 105 mins Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
A pair of commandos square off against savage bandits in this breathless action thriller set on a moving train.
Night Courier (Mandoob) Night Courier (Mandoob)
Comedy 2023 112 mins Director: Ali Kalthami
A desperate delivery driver gets caught up in the dark underworld of Riyadh in Ali Kalthami’s gripping, pitch-black satire.
Broker Broker
Drama 2022 129 mins Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
A young mother leaves her baby at a church, unaware that black marketeers intend to sell it on to the highest bidder, in Hirokazu Koreeda’s Cannes-winning drama.
Parasite Parasite
Comedy 2019 132 mins Director: Bong Joon-ho
Bong Joon Ho's Oscar®-winning box-office sensation is a darkly comic, twisty rollercoaster ride.
Special People Special People
Comedy 2008 74 mins Director: Justin Edgar
Justin Edgar's pioneering feature comedy about a neurotic filmmaker enlisted to make a film with a class of wheelchair-users.
Timestalker Timestalker
Comedy 2024 89 mins Director: Alice Lowe
What if unrequited love spanned the centuries? Alice Lowe's time-jumping fantasy rom-com is a colourful, darkly funny treat.
South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic
Documentary 1919 81 mins Silent Director: Frank Hurley
An extraordinary story of survival in the wastes of Antarctica.
Night Courier (Mandoob) Night Courier (Mandoob)
Comedy 2023 112 mins Director: Ali Kalthami
A desperate delivery driver gets caught up in the dark underworld of Riyadh in Ali Kalthami’s gripping, pitch-black satire.
The Ballymurphy Precedent The Ballymurphy Precedent
Documentary 2018 108 mins Director: Callum Macrae
John Pilger's film on the conflict in Northern Ireland is a skilful mix of investigative journalism, documentary storytelling and reflections on contemporary history.
Utopia Utopia
Documentary 2013 111 mins Director: John Pilger and Alan Lowery
John Pilger's portrayal of the oldest continuous human culture is also an investigation into a suppressed colonial past, and rapacious present.