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Regular
Price $19.98
Starring:
Ken Mitsuishi,
Tôru Nakamura,
Kil-Kang Ahn,
Nobuyuki Katsube,
George Manley,
Directed By:
Si-myung Lee,
Rated: R (Restricted)
Release Date: 2004
Studio: Adv Films
Format:
Color,
Dolby,
DVD-Video,
Subtitled,
NTSC,
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Customer Reviews for
2009 Lost Memories
I wish more effort had gone into the story
I like these stories but I confess that this one is I thought weak. It is one of these what-if stories of how history would have been different if a Japanese governor in Korea in 1909 had not been assassinated. In the story it changed much of history. The Japanese empire survived and Korean become a second-class in Japanese society although democratic, rich and prosperous they are only fully accepted if they became Japanese. To correct this a Korean terrorist group tries to change history to make it what it was in our time.
While watching it, I was thinking considering what Korea when though in our time. Since 1909 they went though a tough Japanese occupation, a bloody civil war, have had two terrible communist dictators in the North, many military leaders in the South and a threat of major war with nukes now. Maybe this alternate future was better for Korea which is something this film should have tried to analysis.
Still it is a story. I did not find any characters interesting.
The acting was okay.
Some of the action scenes were good.
The filming reasonable.
2009 Lost Memories
2009 Lost Memories
I'll make it short and sweet. This was a really good movie. The english track was a plus. It was put together good and the plot kept me on my seat and the end was a twist. I can't wait till more Asian/futuristic action packed movies are re-released into english tracks. I own a couple of movies like this one that has the english track and they are great. The american market is flooded with the same plots.. Movies like this one give you a different outlook on the way it is made...which makes it an all around good movie.. A must get.2009 Lost Memories
Reminiscent Of Philip K. Dick: Worth A Watch
First of all, either you will like the film "2009 Lost Memories" or you will not. The film reminded me a lot of Philip K. Dick's "THE MAN IN A HIGH CASTLE." Only from an Asian perspective. As for myself, I found the film very entertaining--not the best time travel film, but entertaining enough to rent the film at least. [I own it] The film centers around two main characters: A Korean policeman and Japanese policeman from a special anti-terrorist police unit. Both are assigned to the JBI. (Japanese Bureau Of Investigation) based in Seoul. They are combating a terrorist group trying to gain independence from Japan: As Japan in this alternate future allied itself with the USA, and helped to defeat the Axis powers. Moreover, because the future has been altered with Japan as an ally; the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been erased from the past, and therefore, Berlin, Germany was the recipient of the first atomic bombing.
Enter two JBI agents, Sakamoto Masayuki (Jan Dong-gun) and Saigo Shojiro (Toru Nakamura). After the agents are assigned to investigate the Korean terrorist organization responsible for the latest attack on the corporation which sponsored the event; one of the agents, Sakamoto, begins his own internal research on the corporation. Sakamoto discovers that the attack which took so many of the terrorists lives centers on an ancient artifact, and the terrorists were all willing to die for it. But what is so significant about this artifact? Furthermore, Sakamoto is of Korean descent, and during his investigation of the the Mega-corporation, which is Japanese run, he finds himself in hot water as this corporation begins to go after him. This is a powerful corporation, and their reach is very far and wide. Also, since Japan was never defeated in this alternate reality, then Korea never became independent, and is still occupied by Japan.
As events unfold in the film, it become apparent to Sakamoto that the artifact holds the key to events that occurred in the year 1909, which affected the future: The foiled assassination of one man which has altered the future and changed history. The film shifts to events in 1909, which show how history was altered. When Sakamoto discovers what really happened, it is up to him to go back in time and put the past in its proper place--as he has discovered that Korea is an independent nation [Divided] in the true reality. However, there is trouble for him within his own agency. His best friend is the Japanese JBI agent Saigo Shojiro--who has been told what really happened in time. Therefore, Saigo must stop his good friend from attempting to return history to its rightful place, lest his own Japan suffer defeat. Will Sakamoto succeed? Or will he be thwarted by his good friend Saigo? And will history be altered for the better if Sakamoto succeeds? This is a very good film, not great, but definitely worth a watch. Rent it first. [Stars: 3.5]2009 Lost Memories
Attempts to be intellectial - but achieves only cliche
The course of Korean history has been damaged through time travel! That is the secret of the whole film. I would have put up a spoiler warning, but if your read the back of the box, watch the opening credits, or read the product discription, you already know the BIG SECRET. The movie wants to be a very high minded affair, but you don't feel enough of the time changes (most of the over the top action gets in the way) so that you have a lot of sympathy for what is going on. The movie is also hurt by the fact it falls into every Asian movie cliche that doesn't involve a sword and martial arts.
Hero sees person they care for killed and becomes so overcome with grief they must kill 100 people. Check. Best friends end up opposing each other. Check. Symetry scene between best friends going through similar experiences at different locations. Check. Flashback to unimportant person who now give film emotional meaning. Check. Slow action to a crawl to add emotional drama. Check. Two characters pointing pistols at the others head. Check.
Not a bad flick, but not worth $20+ either.2009 Lost Memories
Feels very Philip K Dick
Shortly after seeing Vincenzo Natali's CYPHER, I became aware of two other films that appeared to have been cut from a Philip K. Dick cloth; Min Byung-chun's NATURAL CITY and Lee Si-myung's 2009: LOST MEMORIES. Where CYPHER felt close to Dick's "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" and NATURAL CITY his Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, 2009 was under threat of falling through the cracks as it smacked of a Dick novel that has yet to have an "official" adaptation, The Man in the High Castle.
What if the Axis powers had won WWII? That's been a question long posed in alternative versions of history. 2009: LOST MEMORIES goes back further to the 1909 assassination of Chosun Governor Ito by Choong-Kum Ahn, proposing that this event could have sparked a flurry of dramatic shifts in history. No longer enemies, the United States and Japan would have fought as allies in World War II, atomic bombs would have been dropped on Britain, and "The Great East Asian Union" would serve as the second largest superpower in the world.
The majority of the movie takes place in Seoul--third largest city in the Japanese Empire. When the Korean Republican Army (also known as the Hureisenjin) take over Ito Hall, Japanese Bureau of Investigation agents Sakamoto Masayuki (Jang Dong-gun) and Saigo Shojiro (Toru Nakamura) are called in to diffuse the situation. Like their American counterparts, the JBI tends to shoot first and never ask questions later. The sole exception to this is Sakamoto who insists on digging into the KRA's activities.
Sakamoto uses his Japanese moniker despite being a Korean. In this brave new world, Korea is merely an extension of the East Asian Union's territory. Korea's cultural history and language have long ago been officially dissolved and its citizens are second class at best. When Sakamoto's investigation into the KRA threatens to rock the foundation of the illustrious and mysterious Inoue Foundation, he's framed for murder and told by his superiors, "You'll find lots of friends in jail since most of them are Korean."
While Dick's use of an alternative future is far from wholly original, The Man in the High Castle is a highly satisfactory science fiction tale. Dick's novel lacks an organized rebellion to the alternate timeline but has The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, an underground novel which paints a much more familiar world in which the Axis powers fell. 2009: LOST MEMORIES also owes a debt to Chris Marker's LA JETTEE in Sakamoto's future/past dream.
Moreover, director Lee Si-myung appears to be aping the style of John Woo just as Jang Dong-gun shares quite a few facial expressions with Chow Yun Fat. Additionally, the relationship between Sakamoto and Saigo recalls the tempestuous alliance between many of Woo's characters. It's ironic, then, that the disassociative plot of 2009: LOST MEMORIES should so strongly recall the work of Philip K. Dick when Woo would later helm the adaptation of Dick's "Paycheck."
Rather than tracking down the overlong 2009: LOST MEMORIES, I recommend sticking with Peter Hyams' TIMECOP for a much better time travel adventure film.2009 Lost Memories
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