The Age of Shadows

In Korea under Japanese rule in the 1920s, a Korean police chief tasked with catching resistance members makes contact with one of the men he is hunting. Each intends to use the other. The film takes its tension from the uncertainty of who is on which side; the narrative gathers every character into one enclosed space in a long train section where nobody can trust anybody. There is little action and it is hard. Kim Jee-woon directed, with Song Kang-ho and Gong Yoo. It draws on the actions of a real resistance organisation. A real warning: there are long torture scenes shown in detail. For viewers who do not know the historical background the first half hour may be dense.