Product Details

• Actors: Kil-Kang Ahn, Masaaki Daimon, Shohei Imamura, Dong-Kun Jang, Nobuyuki Katsube
• Directors: Si-myung Lee
• Writers: Si-myung Lee, Sang-hak Lee
• Producers: Carl Macek, John Ledford, Mark Williams, Shinichiro Nakata, Stanley Kim
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: Japanese, Korean
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Adv Films
• DVD Release Date: November 2, 2004
• Run Time: 136 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002S65KY
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #53,716 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #81 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Original Language > Korean
  #82 in	Movies & TV > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Time Travel
  #100 in	Movies & TV > Art House & International > Asian Cinema > Korea

• For more information about "2009 Lost Memories" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

What if Japan allied with the United States during WWII? What if nuclear bombs were dropped on Berlin instead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? What if the sovereign nation of Korea never existed? To J.B.I. agent Masayuki Sakamoto these questions aren't speculation-they're history. During a routine investigation, he uncovers a web of intrigue that will turn his world inside out.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent asian action/fantasy, June 5, 2005

By	Margaret Dybala "too many books, too little time" (Pearland, Texas United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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It is 2009, and the Japanese Bureau of Investigation branch in Seoul (a large city in greater Japan [Korea]) is trying to ferret out a group of Korean terrorists who believe that Korea should be a separate nation. The universe in this film flows forward from an event in 1909 history that eventually determined Korea's freedom from Japan -- but what if it happened differently, as it does in this film. All history is different. Japan and the USA together won WWII. The nuclear bombs dropped on Berlin, not Japan, etc. But what if, and this is where it gets nice and Philip K. Dickian (see Man in a High Castle), somehow, history had been changed deliberately. What if the Koreans could go back in time and set it right. Anyway, the action sequences are very nicely done. If I have one complaint it is that the hero is so good at looking wistful that it is overused. Too many slow down moments of wistful eye tearing. Special kudos to the actor who played the Japanese JBI partner of the hero. He was good. I and my family recommend this film to anyone who likes action and fantasy.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting topic, December 23, 2004

By	Sci-fi fan (Wichita, KS) - See all my reviews

I rented this movie and enjoyed it enough to look in to buying it. If you're a sci-fi fan you'll like it. Some say you need an in-depth understanding of Japanese/Korean politics to grasp it but I don't think that's the case. I thoroughly enjoyed the flick and it actually inspired me to look up more information about the tense relationship between these 2 countries.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not too good, not too bad either..., January 6, 2005

By	Luke - See all my reviews

Imagine Japan allied herself with the US and won WII instead of losing it. Imagine the nuclear bombs being set upon Berlin instead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And a Korea which is not Korea as is now, but a colony of Japan. Lee Si-Myung's 2002 flick seems lost between an action thriller and a sci-fi flic, and for the most parts of the first half of the story, it spends pretending to be the former. If you haven't read this sypnosis or any other you'll be forgiven into thinking this just another plain action drama. There's a huge set piece at the start of the movie where the nationalist "terrorist" groups break in for a mission, but after that the story pewters off into more routine and leisurely pacing.

Masayuki Sakamoto (Jang Dong-Gun) and Shojiro Saigo (Toru Nakamura) are two cops who are investigating the Korean terrorist organization Hureisenjin's latest exploits. Sakamoto is really Korean, although he works for the Japanese government; he couldn't care less about the Korean nationalist movements, that is, until this case, when something sinister seems to be lurking beneath the surface, and which the Japs seem to be trying to cover up.

To be really honest, the film has a good premise, but unfortunately somewhere along the line, it lost its promise and became, very merely, one megabuster which is interesting while it lasts but not very brilliant or bright in execution. Lee's direction became predictable as time went on, as does the plot once the central story became known midway through the 2-hour long film. There's some soppy melodrama going on as well, as well as a good-bad schism which favors the Koreans over their Japanese counterparts. All in all, if you are a Korean patriot, you may approve of the screenplay, but I for one find the melding of sci-fi and action ultimately unconvincing. But still, it isn't that bad a movie, although I won't say it's fantastic either. An ammo-laden film.