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Product Description
Detective Namsoon goes undercover with her partner Detective Ahn to investigate the production of counterfeit money. But when all the prime suspects are killed, the case becomes a much deeper mystery. She discovers one loyal henchman, Sad Eyes, a beautiful swordsman with a pale, blank face. Namsoon and Sad Eyes confront each other in a series of duels tirelessly chasing, being pursued and dodging each other. Inevitably, they fall headlong in love and their forbidden enchantment blossoms. Each struggles to reconcile the desperate conflict between love and obligation to duty, as they square off to meet their fate in one last duel. [With over 2 hours of extras]
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Korean ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Korean ( Dolby DTS 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: 2-DVD Set, Behind the scenes, Collectors Edition, Interactive Menu, Making Of, Photo Gallery, Scene Access, Special Edition, SYNOPSIS: Director Lee Myung-se returns to the screen with his long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed 1999 policier Nowhere to Hide. Duelist takes place in Korea during the Chosun dynasty, where a large-scale counterfeiting scheme threatens to send the whole country into chaos. Two cops, Detective Ahn (Ahn Sung-kee, who played the killer in Nowhere to Hide) and his young protégé, Namsoon (Ha Ji-won of Phone), stumble upon the plot while they're working undercover at a street fair. A masked swordsman (Kang Dong-won, whose character is identified in the credits as "Sad Eyes") uses his amazing skills to distract onlookers while he pulls off a robbery. Namsoon doggedly pursues him, and finds herself strangely but inexorably drawn to the young man, even as they have one violent encounter after another. While Sad Eyes relies on his swordsmanship, Namsoon is an expert with her two daggers. Their skills are comparable, and inconveniently enough, they seem to be falling in love. Eventually, the police investigation leads to Sad Eyes' employer, the Minister of Defense (Song Young-chang, another frequent collaborator of director Lee's), who is apparently using the counterfeiting plot in an effort to take over the government. Duelist had its New York premiere at the {~2006 New York Asian Film Festival}, presented by Subway Cinema. ...Duelist ( Hyeongsa )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is not a film to be categorised with the new wave of modernist Korean cinematography, there are no gory scenes, there is no blatant sexuality or undue brutal violence. This film is directed as an old fashioned tale of honour, love and the demands of justice over feelings. With some amazing choreography, fighting and battle scenes set in period detail. Yes it could be confusing during the first half of the film, possibly to show how confused the forces of law are, considering the conflicting and lack of evidence at that stage of the film. But it is wonderfuly shot, the directors use of light and dark, colour, and the movement of the protagonists build the atmosphere to an almost claustophobic finale.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This Korean film is a strange one to commend. The lead actress -- altho very appealing -- mugs and overacts from start to finish (it seems to have been the director's idea, tho*). The comedy, what there is, is often at the Hong Kong level. The martial arts scenes are the exaggerated type. Yet I found the film totally engrossing.
Visually it was one of the most daring and stunning that I've seen. It's the direction, cinematography and the pacing that made the drama work despite all the questionable elements mentioned earlier. They imbue the story with a lyricism that grows and grows -- just as the romantic tension between the advarsaries -- the policewoman and the mysterious swordsman -- grows.
Korean filmmaker Lee Myung-se falls into the auteur category that includes such individual talents as Hitchcock, Jean-Pierre Melville, Wong Kar Wai and Ozu -- controlling the various facets of production in an effort to bring his vision to the screen. He may be hard on the production's underlings, but the result can often be spectacular. This one is.
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* The actress, Ha Ji Won, gave a much more naturalistic and equally winning performance in the Korean TV miniseries of this story broadcast a couple years earlier (Damo - Series 1 - Episodes 1 - 7 [2003])
Visually it was one of the most daring and stunning that I've seen. It's the direction, cinematography and the pacing that made the drama work despite all the questionable elements mentioned earlier. They imbue the story with a lyricism that grows and grows -- just as the romantic tension between the advarsaries -- the policewoman and the mysterious swordsman -- grows.
Korean filmmaker Lee Myung-se falls into the auteur category that includes such individual talents as Hitchcock, Jean-Pierre Melville, Wong Kar Wai and Ozu -- controlling the various facets of production in an effort to bring his vision to the screen. He may be hard on the production's underlings, but the result can often be spectacular. This one is.
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* The actress, Ha Ji Won, gave a much more naturalistic and equally winning performance in the Korean TV miniseries of this story broadcast a couple years earlier (Damo - Series 1 - Episodes 1 - 7 [2003])
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Get this if you like great photography and music. Weak plot and no real ending. Bought it in a sale at Zavvi for £6. Worth it. Wouldn't spend more.
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