Saturday, November 23, 2019

Quarter 2 Reviews- 001 Historical Drama- New


001 Historical Drama – New

Very, very behind.  Let’s see if I can get the 2019 Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 reviews out by the end of the year!

Lights, Camera, Kidnap! by Lucy Catherine was billed as a comedy, but I wasn’t so sure.  Based on the true story of Sin-sen Auk (Liz Sutherland) and her husband Chue Un-Hi (Paul Courtney Hu) and how they escaped the North Korean Communist regime in the 1980s.  But it’s a lot more than that:  they were South Korea’s dream couple, she the actress, he the film director.  However, fame drew them apart.  They divorced, and it was only when Kim Jong Il had them kidnapped that they were drawn back together.  Kim Jong Il, a keen cinema-goer, also believed in the propaganda power of films.  He was certain that if Korea’s best actress and best director teamed up again in the service of the Revolution, they could change the world.  Brainwashed and brutalized after years of being separated from their families, Sen and Chue had to learn to trust each other again.  Once they did, they hatched a daring plan:  to be allowed to visit the West and defect.  It took them a long time; they had to make propaganda films for North Korea.  Then, while filming in Austria, they took their chance.  A daring, fascinating, and quite stylish thriller; it’s certainly made me interested in the book upon which it is based.  It also starred Leo Wong, David Yip, Samuel James, Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong, Gary Duncan, Adam Fitzgerald and Abby Andrews.  It was directed by Sasha Yevtushenko. 

No comments:

Post a Comment