By Since it had a military theme, The Coast Guard was the latest movie I watched in my Netflix que. The movie was released in 2002 and was directed by one of Korea’s most acclaimed director’s Kim Ki-duk. I am not a big fan of Kim’s past movies with the exception of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, which I thought was a great movie. So I didn’t really have high hopes for this movie and it ended up living up to my expectations.
The movie is about a soldier, Private Kang (Jang Dong-gun) who is gung-ho about his assignment to defend a stretch of coast in Gangwon-do on Korea’s east coast from North Korean infiltrators. His gung-ho mind set however, leads to him killing a local man who was having sex on a beach not open to civilians because Kang mistook him for being a North Korean infiltrator. The ROK military awards Pvt. Kang with a medal for doing his duty despite killing the civilian, which leads the locals to want to get revenge against Kang. In addition to this, the girl the dead guy was having sex with who survived the shooting goes totally crazy and tries to have sex with any male she meets. All this compounds to Pvt. Kang having mental trauma and being discharged from the ROK military. The rest of the movie centers on how Kang comes back to Gangwon-do to torment his unit while the crazy girl torments them in other ways.
All in all it was a pretty weird movie, which people who are big fans of Kim Ki-duk will probably enjoy, but I for one did not.
4:58 pm on February 20th, 2012 1
Sounds like major suckage; but the nork-friends probably eat that up all day long…
6:03 pm on February 20th, 2012 2
Have you watched “Road 1″ on Netflix? I liked it, but a few episodes got a little too…. well, Korean for me (to be expected).
I know you recommend a lot of movies, but what other Korean Netflix movies do you recommend? I hate starting movies just to find out 20 minutes into them they’re a waste.
7:58 pm on February 20th, 2012 3
#2,
What usually ruins it for me is when there’s melodrama in action movies and comedies. You’ll often see this in Korean movies. It’s presented as a plot twist. The film maker is obviously trying to put forth a message, and it seems far too forced to me. I find this quite insulting, actually. It’s as if the movie makers don’t think the viewers have the intellectual capacity to recognize subtext.
8:41 pm on February 20th, 2012 4
#3 – that’s exactly right and that’s what I didn’t like about “Road 1″. They had too many long scenes of melodrama that made portions of the mini-series dreadful.
11:27 pm on February 20th, 2012 5
You’ll like this one better, ‘Act of Valor’ coming soon to a theater near you – Official Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnlPgo9TaGo
“An elite team of Navy SEALs embark on a covert mission to recover a kidnapped CIA agent.”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1591479/
9:36 am on February 21st, 2012 6
Kim Gi Duk isn’t the most commercial, or even audience friendly director in the world, but in a country like Korea where most films take style over substance almost 9 times out of 10, Gi Duk’s movies don’t Rather, they sort of show the raw and visceral nature of mankind and human nature. “The Coast Guard” kind of explores this in a way that shows where man’s lust for power and blood only eventually wrecks havoc amongst both the innocent and guilty alike. But then again what I and other fans see, people who hate him just see mindless masochism and obscenity, especially in both Korea and amongst his major negative critics in England. Still, one thing he does do, he surely makes you think, whether you like the movie or not. In the end, isn’t that what a good film should do? Provoke thought?
10:16 am on February 21st, 2012 7
#6 – Sure, sometimes movies should provoke thought, but many times, people are just looking to be entertained. That’s why it’s called the “entertainment” industry instead of the “thought provoking” industry.
6:19 pm on February 21st, 2012 8
@2 – I am going to try and review one movie a week and hopefully give you some ideas of movies to watch. If you haven’t seen this posting yet this should give you some ideas of some good Korean movies to watch:
http://rokdrop.com/2010/01/15/rok-drops-top-10-korean-movies-of-the-decade/
I am actually currently watching Road Number 1 now. By Korean drama standards it isn’t that bad of a series but the love triangle and melodrama stuff holds it back from being a really great series.
6:30 pm on February 21st, 2012 9
Thanks GI. I liked “Road 1″, except for, as already mentioned. The last few episodes really start getting heard to watch in a couple of spots (not trying to ruin it for you), but overall, I think you’ll enjoy it.
9:03 pm on February 21st, 2012 10
I watched this a couple years ago and I actually enjoyed it. I am a Kim ki-duk fan, but his movies aren’t for everyone. As said, he often presents a very difficult view of things which most people don’t like, especially Koreans as he’s often turning the view back on their society. This is the same for a lot of people, movies which do the same to Americans don’t usually do well, or at least not without a great deal of controversy.
I thought it gave an interesting look at the military, the pressure, and what happens to soldiers in these situations and how society treats them.
6:53 pm on February 24th, 2012 11
Road number had a good ending. I have Netflix but can’t find the coast guard, wtf?