2009: Lost Memories

2009: Lost Memories
Hangul	2009 로스트메모리즈
Revised Romanization	2009 Loseutumemorijeu
McCune–Reischauer	2009 Rosŭt‘ŭmemo-rijŭ
Directed by	Lee Si-myung
Screenplay by	Lee Si-myung Lee Sang-hak
Story by	Bok Geo-il
Produced by	Kim Yun-young Seo Jun-won
Starring	Jang Dong-gun Toru Nakamura
Production companies	Tube Entertainment Indecom Cinema
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release date	February 1, 2002(2002-02-01)
Running time	136 minutes
Country	South Korea
Languages	Korean Japanese
Box office	$12,049,825

2009: Lost Memories(Korean:2009 로스트메모리즈;2009 Loseutumemorijeu) is a 2002 South Koreanscience fictionaction filmdirected by Lee Si-myung, adapted from the 1987 novelLooking for an EpitaphbyBok Geo-il.The film takes place in an alternate 2009, where theKorean Peninsulais still part ofImperial Japandue to a time-travel incident in 1909. It was distributed byCJ Entertainmentand was released on February 1, 2002.

Background

The film's opening sequence shows the following timeline, which is analternate historyfrom the events that actually occurred:

• 1909:An Jung-geun's assassination attempt againstItō Hirobumiis thwarted by a man named Inoue.
• 1910: The Empire of Japanannexes Korea.
• 1919: TheMarch 1st Movementprotests are suppressed with violence.
• 1921: Inoue, Itō's savior, becomes Choseon's (Korea's) second governor-general.
• 1932: The assassination ofYoshinori ShirakawabyYoon Bong-gilis prevented.
• 1936: The United States and the Empire of Japan enterWorld War IIas allies againstNazi Germany.
• 1943: Japan annexesManchukuo.
• 1945: Atomic bombs are dropped onBerlininstead ofHiroshima and Nagasaki,ending World War II.
• 1960: Japan becomes a permanent member of theU.N. Security Council.
• 1965: Japan launches its first satellite,Sakura 1(presumably as part of theSpace Race).
• 1988: The1988 Summer Olympicsare held inNagoya(in contrast to the citylosingto Seoul in the actual timeline)
• 2002: The 2002 FIFA World Cup is held in Japan (instead ofboth South Korea and Japan)

Plot

In 2009, theKorean Peninsula(Chosun) is stillunder Imperial Japanese ruleandJapanese Bureau of Investigation(JBI) agents Masayuki Sakamoto and Shojiro Saigo thwart a hostage crisis at a museum inKeijoby a terrorist group known as the Hureisenjin. The exact motivation for the hostage situation is unknown, but during the investigation, Sakamoto discovers a museum artifact, a crescent-shaped rock known as the "Lunar Soul", found by one of the slain terrorists. After discovering that the Hureisenjin has a long history of targeting the Inoue Foundation, a group founded around the artifacts collected by the secondGovernor-General of Korea,Sakamoto begins to suspect the Hureisenjin were attempting to steal the Lunar Soul, although both he and Saigo are puzzled as to why a terrorist group would put so much effort into stealing historical artifacts. The Hureisenjin ambush the convoy shipping the foundation's artifacts back to Japan and take the Lunar Soul. The terrorists confront Sakamoto and Saigo in a gunfight, where Sakamoto encounters Oh Hye-rin, the organization's leader.

Sakamoto's questioning and accusations against the influential Inoue Foundation lead to him being thrown off the case, with the execution of Sakamoto's father as a traitor for aiding in a thwarted attack by the Hurisenjin on a cargo ship inVladivostokin 1985 being cited by his suspicious superiors. Sakamoto pursues the investigation, traveling toHarbinto learn more about the Lunar Soul, and is then suspended from the JBI. That night, an unknown assailant murders Sakamoto's mentor, Takahashi, at his apartment and he is arrested for the crime. Sakamoto, however, escapes from the JBI with the help of Saigo, who vows to be his enemy the next time they meet.

A wounded Sakamoto stumbles into the Hureisenjin's hideout and Saigo is visited by the head of the Inoue Foundation, with both learning the truth: that they are living in analternate timeline.In 2009, a large stone temple uncovered by a joint Chinese-Korean-Japanese archaeological expedition, is found to facilitatetime travel,and through its exploitation by the Japanese right-wing nationalist groupUyoku dantai,a man named Inoue travels back in time exactly 100 years and prevents the assassination of Resident-GeneralItō Hirobumion October 26, 1909. Itō's survival and Inoue's knowledge of future events allows for Japan, instead of being defeated with the other Axis Powers inWorld War II,to instead ally with the United States againstNazi Germany;The war ends in 1945, following the atomic bombing of Berlin (instead ofHiroshima and Nagasaki). As one of the victorious powers, Japan becomes a military and economic superpower with a permanent seat on theU.N. Security Council,with itscolonial empireintact. Inoue goes on to become the second Governor-General of Korea and his descendants found the Inoue Foundation, which keeps knowledge of the altered timeline limited to only the highest levels of Japan's government. However, a Korean researcher who followed Inoue and attempted to stop him becomes the founder of Hureisenjin and passes along the story of the truth of the altered timeline, with the hope that the original timeline can somehow be restored.

Knowing about the altered history, Sakamoto allies with the Hureisenjin, who have located the temple stone and are planning their final attack. However, the JBI raid their hideout and kill almost everyone before being wiped out by an improvised explosive. Carrying the Lunar Soul with them, Sakamoto and Hye-rin escape to a tanker ship where the Inoue Foundation's artifacts are being held. They find the temple stone and place the Lunar Soul in it, which activates in the middle of a gunfight with the JBI. Hye-rin is killed, leaving Sakamoto as the only person left to fix the timeline. Sakamoto sends himself to Harbin in 1909, but is pursued by Saigo, who wants to retain the current timeline (Saigo is warned that if the original timeline is restored, his wife's family will almost certainly die in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima). Sakamoto wounds Saigo before heading to the railway station where the assassination is supposed to occur. He is about to stop Inoue from killing An, but Saigo once again confronts him. Sakamoto kills Inoue, then guns down Saigo to prevent him from shooting An; An then assassinates Itō, as in the original timeline. Later, Sakamoto is seen planting explosives to destroy the temple stone, when Hye-rin walks up to him. It then becomes clear that she was a Korean researcher in the original timeline, who had followed Inoue when he traveled back in time. Although this Hye-rin (as opposed to the Hye-rin in the alternate timeline) and Sakamoto have never met, they immediately form a special bond.

Back in 2009, it becomes clear that the original timeline has been restored, and at theIndependence Hall of Korea,a young boy Sakamoto had met in the alternate timeline sees numerous pictures of Korean heroes and leaders, including one of Sakamoto and Hye-rin together smiling.

Cast

• Jang Dong-gunas Masayuki Sakamoto, a JBI agent of Japanese and Korean descent
• Toru Nakamuraas Shojiro Saigo, Sakamoto's partner
• Seo Jin-hoas Oh Hye-rin, the female leader of the Korean terrorist group Hureisenjin
• Miki Yoshimuraas Yuriko Saigo, Shojiro's wife
• Shin Gooas Takahashi, Sakamoto's mentor
• Ken Mitsuishias Hideyo, a JBI employee who wears large eyeglasses
• Shōhei Imamuraas a historian
• Kim Min-sunas a kindergarten teacher who appears at the end of the film
• Masaaki Daimon
• Nobuyuki Katsube
• Lee Sa-pi
• Woo Sang-jeon

Production

2009: Lost Memorieswas a co-production between Korea and Japan, coinciding with the2002 FIFA World Cup,held jointly in Japan and South Korea.

Bok Geo-il,author of the source novelBimyeong-eul Chajaseo( "Looking for an Epitaph" ) (1987), refused to be associated with the finished product, and successfully sued the film-makers to have his name removed from the credits.

Reception

According to Tom Vick, who contributed a chapter on Korea to the bookAsian Cinema,the theme of the film represents a desire in Korean cinema to "transcend time and memory" also reflected in other contemporary films such asFlower Island,Il Mare,andBungee Jumping of Their Own.

Jonathan ClementsinThe Encyclopedia of Science Fictionwrote:

"After the irresistible opening sequence, it soon lapses into standard clichés – torn loyalties, doomed male bonding, fiery patriotism, and (as the Making Of sequence in the DVD brags) 20,000 rounds of small-arms ammunition."

Jeannette Catsoulis writing forThe New York Timeswelcomed the film, saying that while the film is too long, the plot "leaps unexpectedly from action thriller to science-fiction drama without losing sight of the humanity beneath the nationalism."

Derek Elley writing forVarietyconcluded that the "billed as 'the biggest action flick in the history of Korean cinema,'" the movie is "anoirishaction drama than a high-techthriller.A wannabe Japanese-Koreanbuddy moviewrapped around a hokey, what-if/sci-fi drama, the movie is far too leisurely for the international market. ".

Analysis

Duy Lap Nguyen, in an article published in theScience Fiction Studies,described the work as "an allegory about the history of Korean national sovereignty" dealing with the topics such as Korean national identity and theJapanese-Korean relations.

See also

• History of Korea
• Korean reunification
• List of Korean-language films
• Cinema of Korea
• Contemporary culture of South Korea
• Time travel
• Alternate history

External links

• Official website
• 2009: Lost MemoriesatIMDb
• 2009: Lost MemoriesatHanCinema
• 2009 Lost Memories,review atAsian Cinema.