The Age of Shadows

The Age of Shadows is the perfect closing film of this year's Films From the South, which saw the realisation of Thrills & Chills, a section devoted especially to genre cinema. Hopefully, this adrenalin-pumping experiment will continue in future editions.

One of South Koreas leading autuers, Kim Jee-woon has previously delivered stylished and hyper violent films such as I Saw the Devil and The Good, the Bad and the Weird. The Age of Shadows is another confident and well-crafted achievement, a spy thriller that taks us back to the 1920s and a Korea occupied by the Japanese. The Korean independence movement plans to blow-up the Japanese head quarters, and helped by Hungarian anarchists they succeed in smuggling in enough dynamite to complete the task, in a truly nerve-wracking operation. Police chief Lee-jung Chool – masterly portrayed by the super star actor Song Hang-ko – is a Korean helping the Japanese hunt down the leaders of the resistance. However, he has many of his own friend in the movement, which makes him all the more insecure of where his loyalty lies.

With a breathtaking design that pays impressive attention to detail, as well as superb performances and meticulously choreagraphed action sequences, The Age of Shadows is a captivating experience. It balances great tableaus with tight close-ups, and tells an engaging tale from a dramatic period in the history of the Korean nation. The details of the plot are carefully portioned out, but with his supreme storytelling skills, Kim Jee-woon makes sure that we never lose track of the action. Lasse Skagen

Seoul-born Kim Jee-woon (b. 1964) is one of the greatest directors within the thriller genre. His previous films include A Tale of Two Sisters, A Bittersweet Life, The Good, the Bad and the Weird, and the gut-wrenching I Saw the Devil. In 2013 he made his Hollywood debut with The Last Stand starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.