Category : Entertainment

Black Republic (Blu-ray) (Korea Version)

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One of the most overtly political directors in Korea, Park Kwang Su made his directorial debut in 1988 with the highly acclaimed Chilsoo and Mansoo , considered by many to be the pioneering film of the Korean New Wave. In 1990, he followed with Black Republic , a modern classic that swept the Korean film festival circuit and firmly established Park as one of Korea's most foremost directors. Black Republic is set in the period following the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, a student democracy demonstration brutally suppressed by the Chun Doo Hwan military regime. The film channels Park Kwang Su's feelings about his country and politics in the dark, repressed years following the uprising, offering an angry, hard-boiled portrait of the political, economic, and social tensions tearing through 1980s Korea. Actor Moon Sung Keun, who would also appear in Park's later films To the Starry Island and A Single Spark , portrays an idealistic activist who hopes to reform society. His character, inspired by the life of a poet who participated in the labor movement, provides a stark contrast with Park Joong Hoon's character, a conceited problem child of the privileged class. The situations and interactions subtly laid out in Black Republic bring attention to the hopes and hypocrisies of a displaced generation. Following the Gwangju Uprising, wanted student activist Han Tae Hoon (Moon Sung Keun) goes into hiding at a coal mining town, a bleak place left behind by Korea's rapid modernization. He adopts a new name, finds a job, and falls in love with prostitute Young Sook (Shim Hye Jin, Greenfish ), who also seems to be on the run from something. Tae Hoon finds himself being slowly changed by his surroundings, but trouble comes when he clashes with the mine owner's volatile son (Park Joong Hoon, Radio Star ), and his past begins to catch up. This edition comes with audio commentary, Park Kwang Su's short film They Are Also Like Us , Digital Restoration: Before & After, and image gallery.

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