1999 was a very important year in the history of Korean cinema, and the release of a movie became a symbol of the rise of Korean cinema, which was "Life and Death Spy Change".
South Korea began to open up foreign film quotas after joining the WTO, which is bound to have a strong impact on South Korean films. South Korean filmmakers have come together for the survival and development of Korean cinema, shaving their heads and staging in places like Gwanghwamun in Seoul to protest.
The godfather of Korean cinema, Lim Kwon-taek, was old at the time, but he also took the lead in participating, and finally with the joint efforts of the filmmakers, the South Korean government compromised. The South Korean government's decision that all cinemas must show its own films for 148 days a year has stimulated the creativity of Korean films that have been dormant for a long time, and filmmakers are all excited.
After the release of "Life and Death Spy Change", it attracted 6.6 million people into the cinema, and the total population of South Korea in 1999 was just over 40 million. The box office of "Life and Death" also broke the record of 4.17 million viewers held by "Titanic".
Since then, Korean movies have begun to be remade against the wind, and Hollywood movies have become less and less marketed in South Korea.
The director of "Life and Death Spy Change" is Jiang Digui, speaking of Jiang Digui, most fans may not understand, because his most famous movies are "Taiji Flag Flying" and "Life and Death Spy Change".
Judging from the cast, this movie is also unprecedented luxury, with "Chungmuro Troika" Song Kang-ho and Choi Min-sik, some becoming popular in recent years because of "New World", "Old Hand" and "Crying", Huang Zhengmin, who became a late bloomer, and Han Seok-gyu, who was the most popular and box office appeal of Korean movies in the 90s.
The four major movie emperors gathered, and to this day, no movie has a more luxurious lineup than "Life and Death Spy Change".
Compared with the status of film history, the quality of "Life and Death Spy Change" is not top-notch, and it can only be said to be a very successful commercial film.
The Douban score is only 7.3 points, and the biggest criticism is the face of the character. And "Life and Death Spy Change" does not have much of its own mark of Korean films, at that time Korean movies just embarked on the road of plagiarism and imitation, Hong Kong films and Hollywood blockbusters are the objects of their learning to imitate, "Life and Death Spy Change" is like a very general production of old Hong Kong films.
The imitation of Korean films has been going on for more than a decade, and today, it has formed a complete film industry, has its own national characteristics, and has come to the forefront of Asia in the field of commercial films.
"Life and Death Spy Change" is about the relationship between the North and the South, the agents of different camps, and different identities.
Kim Myung-hee is an agent of North Korea's Eighth Special Forces who infiltrated South Korea for years and assassinated several politicians. Although it was known that this person existed, no one knew where she was. Many years later, Kim Myung-hee began to move again, which triggered a series of emergencies.
North Korea sends a team of agents led by Bu Wan-kun (Choi Min-sik), while on the South Korean side are Choi Sang-hwan (Han Seok-kyu) and Lee Jung-hee (Song Kang-ho), as well as Kim Myung-hee, who is hidden in the shadows.
Feelings of home and country, personal grudges, love and betrayal, "Life and Death Spy Change" not only has conflicts and fights, but also the human barriers divided by the "three and eight lines".
Students who want to see it can pay attention to the headline number of "Shadow Life" and send private messages "Life and Death Spy Changes", which has surprises.