Secret Reunion

December 24th, 2011

Also known as “Brothers” or “Blood Brothers”
When North Korean secret agent Ji-won (Kang Dong-won) crosses the 38th Parallel on a mission, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) led by Han-gyu (Song Kang-ho) intervenes, and a shooting rampage ensues in the heart of Seoul. For the incident, Han-gyu is fired and Ji-won is deserted by his agency. Six years later, the two meet by chance and start a business partnership in order to steal information from the other.

ecret Reunion is a very successful second outing for the young directorJang Hun, who began his career as an assistant to Kim Ki-duk and then made his debut in 2008 with the commercial and critical hit Rough Cut. That film, although smaller in scale, is perhaps more innovative and thought-provoking. Secret Reunion was intended to be a more commercial endeavor from the start, but the fact that it was such a hit with audiences (over 5 million tickets sold) should be enough to push Jang’s career into the fast lane. Surely we will be hearing more from him in the near future.

Of course, it will surprise no one to hear that one of the key reasons to watch this film is the performance by Song Kang ho. He portrays Han-gyu as someone pulled in several different directions at once. Although he’s not above cheating a bit to get ahead, his conscience continues to follow him around, even if he doesn’t acknowledge it outwardly. It’s not a major departure from his previous roles, but Song’s ability to express himself with his body and his masterly control of his voice keeps the performance fresh. His pairing with Gang Dong-won also seems to have helped the latter turn in an especially engaging and charismatic performance. However in some ways the actor who most stole the limelight was Goh Chang-seok (Director Bong in Rough Cut) who plays a Vietnamese gang boss. Although surely it will be obvious to native speakers of Vietnamese that this is a Korean actor, many local viewers were fooled, at the same time as Goh’s delivery and comic timing produced storms of laughter.

Local commentators have noted this film’s resemblance to a string of earlier big-budget North Korea-themed blockbusters that scored big at the box office (especially Shiri, JSA, Silmido, Taegukgi, and Welcome to Dongmakgol). Like the earlier works, Secret Reunion includes humanistic portrayals of North Korean characters and focuses on individuals caught in the middle of powerful, impersonal political forces. But this film is on a refreshingly smaller scale, restricting itself to just two protagonists and devoting more time to characterization. The ending may not contain any strong insight into Korea’s unique political situation, but the film’s characters will endure.