Shiri

A sniper from North Korean special forces infiltrates the South and assassinations begin. Two Southern agents follow the trail. At the same time a new liquid explosive is in play and it becomes clear it will be used at a stadium. The fiancée of the agent leading the case runs an aquarium shop. The subject is not espionage but both sides being from the same country. The reckoning at the end is personal rather than political; the division between the two Koreas is built here as a family matter, and that is where the film's weight comes from for a South Korean audience. The form uses the Hollywood action template outright: gunfights, chases, a countdown. That is deliberate; the production was planned to prove Korean cinema could make a genre film at this scale. Its consequences changed the industry. It broke every box office record in Korea to that date and passed Titanic there; the idea that a domestic production could compete with Hollywood was born from it, and it is counted among the starting points of the Korean cinema boom that followed. Han Suk-kyu plays the agent, Choi Min-sik the North Korean commander and Kim Yun-jin the fiancée. Kang Je-kyu directs. Who it is for: viewers curious about the beginning of Korean genre cinema and anyone who likes action. Who it is not for: anyone after subtlety; the emotional passages are over-emphasised and the music pushes them further.