Uprising: Directorial Signatures

Park Chan-wook co-wrote Uprising and there are times when you can definitely feel his signature touch on this historical epic of class rebellion: the sadistic whippings of a young boy's calves, the repeated motif of a knife piercing a hand, the final bloody duel in an engulfing fog — a swordfight that involves three men, not two. But Uprising is actually a Kim Sang-man movie which means if you're hoping for the intricate and delirious perversity that inhabits so many of Park's film, you're going to be a little bit disappointed. In truth, I found Uprising sometimes confusing for whereas Park always manages to juggle multiple storylines effortlessly, Kim's interweaving of tales had me repeatedly having to resituate myself as to whether I were in the present or the past.

The central story is compelling, however. Two childhood friends — one a mid-ranking nobleman (Park Jeong-min / Jin Jae-hee), one a slave (Gang Dong-won / Lee Yoon-sang) — are unable to truly meet as equals in a society ruled by an insensitive king (an especially effective Cha Seung-won), despite the BFFs repeated attempts to do so. Instead, they're often pitted against each other even when a common enemy emerges: the nose-hacking Japanese general (Jung Sung-il) whose Joseon-era brutality is like a harbinger of the 20th-century horrors to come. The final resolution isn't a predictable one. Which I credit to Park who's always full of surprises.