The Age of Shadows

 South Korean writer/director Kim Jee-woon’s The Age of Shadows. Image via Madman.

In the hands of South Korean writer/director Kim Jee-woon, acts of espionage are comprised of two components: talk and action. Both flow freely in The Age of Shadows, as the filmmaker behind A Bittersweet Life, The Good, the Bad, the Weird, I Saw the Devil and English-language effort The Last Stand turns his attention to his homeland during Japanese rule in the 1920s. And yet, while the chatter is far from cheap – loaded as it is with constant contemplations of swapped allegiances and suspected duplicity – it simply can’t compare with the spectacular sights that surround the many conversations. 

Indeed, The Age of Shadows proves an exhilarating exercise in exploring the aesthetic, energetic, kinetic side of spying and surreptitious plans in a feature of the classic, war-torn kind. Just as the movie is predicated upon the 1923 bombing of Japanese police headquarters in Seoul but never beholden to the real-life specifics, it’s also an effort anchored by the mechanics of its cat-and-mouse plot but by no means defined by it. Every scene is both gleaming and sweeping: here, the light bounces off of a pensive face; there, the camera rushes through a train dining carriage turned standoff site. Cinematographer Kim Ji-yong’s (The Royal Tailor) camera may seem to spend a second too long lingering on an eye-catching piece of headwear or luxurious shop interiors; however, in a film that circles around a rooftop attack, zooms out to show a shooting in a crowd from above, roves over a golden field as a man alights from a moving train, and shoots a floor of blood-splattered bodies as though it’s a piece of art, the devil is in the visible details. 

In the thick of much of the fray – sometimes causing it, directly or indirectly; often aware of it, at least – is police Captain Lee Jung-chool (Song Kang-ho, The Throne). As an officer working with the country’s Japanese powers-that-be, he’s considered a turncoat to many; to enterprising resistance leader, Jeong Chae-san (Lee Byung-hun, The Magnificent Seven), he’s also a target that could be be turned back again. Kim Woo-jin (Gong Yoo, Train to Busan) sits in the middle, fronting an antiques store used as a smuggling outfit, boasting ties to a fallen rebel and classmate of Jung-chool’s, trying to locate the informer that caused his predecessor’s death, and forming a tentative bond with the cop that could end his operations at any minute. Meanwhile, Jung-chool is barely trusted by his own superiors, with the cruel Hashimoto (Um Tae-goo, Oki’s Movie) monitoring his every move. 

It’s a combustible situation just waiting to explode with more than just nationalism on either side, and explode it does. And entertain, even when the first act takes its time to establish the various characters and games at play after its rousing opening — and when the third act initially suffers from its close proximity to the locomotive-set antics that comprise The Age of Shadows’ thrilling midsection. Still, if there’s one thing Kim Jee-woon knows how to do to here, other than perfect the requisite appearance, mood and setpieces, it’s immerse audiences in this furtive world. Whether his intricate narrative with screenwriters Lee Ji-min and Park Jong-dae lags, wanes or races forward with purpose, the surrounding feature always looks tantalisingly immaculate, and feels perched on the precipice of greater intrigue. 

That makes for a sumptuous submersion into the spy realm, with production designer Cho Hwa-Sung (The Tiger: An Old Hunter’s Tale), composer Mowg (Remember You) and editor Yang Jin-mo (The Beauty Inside) ranking among those deserving credit. And yet, while its action-oriented approach might seem to indicate otherwise, The Age of Shadows also rests on the shoulders of its cast. Han Ji-min’s (The Fatal Encounter) lone female resistance fighter may be given little to do, and Lee Byung-hun’s part is little more than a cameo, though the same can’t be said for Song Kang-ho and Gong Yoo. The older performer remains guarded but clearly conflicted, the younger charismatic and enterprising, and both navigate the blend of discussion and skirmishes with ease and verve.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

The Age of Shadows

Director: Kim Jee-woon

South Korea, 2016, 140 mins

Release date: November 3

Distributor: Madman

Rated: MA