The Lovers & the Despot (2016) User Reviews

The director, his ex-wife actress and the dictator turned kidnapper who kidnaps them.

[samuelding85 · 8/10 · 25 September 2016]

The above tag line should pretty much sums up about the documentary feature, which tells the story most people might never heard of. The Lovers and the Despot explores the rather unusual love-hate relationship between a very unlikely trio: South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee and her ex-husband movie director Shin Sang-OK, where both were kidnap by their greatest fan, Kim Jong-il.

Written and directed by Ross Adam and Robert Cannon, the documentary tells the story behind one of the biggest kidnapping mystery that takes place in 1978. Featuring interviews with Choi herself, she personally explains to the audience about her career as an actress in South Korea movie industry, the romance and failed marriage between her and the late Shin, and a impossible reunion which takes place in the most unlikely place by the most unlikely person: Kim Jong-il's residency.

The documentary also covers the incident from the different perspective: the traumas faced by Choi and Shin's family member, especially their two adopted children; British police officers conducting the investigation on the disappearance of Choi and Shin in Hong Kong, where both were kidnapped in different locations; the South Korean CIA agent investigating the kidnap, which links to the study of North Korea movie industry and Kim's passion towards movies; Japanese film critic who assisted Shin to passed the message to their family back in South Korea; an former North Korea adviser who works for Kim and shares the unknown side of the late North Korea dictator. Together with some conversations from Kim himself, which was recorded by Choi and Shin secretly, audience gets an deeper insight on the man who was seen as a tyrant of the world.

Rather than having the usual conversations filled up the documentary, The Lovers and the Despot provides the audience with tonnes of rare footage, ranging from video clips from the movies made by Choi, Shin and Kim to photos and archival records. Not only does it keep the audience engaged, it also provides everyone an chance to watch something that is rare and unlikely to be seen on the mainstream media.

The Lovers and the Despot is one of the most important documentaries that document the evolution of North and South Korea film industry. Most importantly, we get to see a different side of the man in question itself.

Fascinating Film: Much Left Unresolved

[zandernat-1 · 8/10 · 24 September 2016]

This is a very good film. A book about the incredible true story provides more details: "A Kim Jung-Il Production." And it is details that are missing from the film version such as: 1] Did Choi & Shin bring their children from South Korea to the US? 2] What became of Choi's two children with his mistress? Also, some other details which would only have taken a few minutes to add might have been: --when Choi & Shin met, Choi was in an abusive marriage from which he rescued her, in essence.

--when Shin's mistress died, her rival, Choi was the only person in attendance at her funeral.

These equally fascinating details which I learned from the book might have been of interest and added to the fullness of the narrative.

Otherwise, this film does a marvelous job of placing one in the terror, the abject state of a captured trophy performer. The true details of Shin's incarceration are far more brutal than was portrayed, however.

The absurdity of North Korea's megalomania-cal rulers and Kim Jung-Il's fondness for film are comical save for the devastating effects on the kidnapped, caged humans in his menagerie. Kim also had US servicemen who defected & had not finished high school become professors of the English department at North Korean universities. And, he had them star in films as evil Americans, of course.

This may be the most bizarre true story about world class film-making to date.

A cinematic mystery

[paul2001sw-1 · 8/10 · 2 April 2017]

To outsiders, the North Korean government seems not just cruel but downright bizarre, no more so than in this story of the time that Kim Jong-il, then heir apparent to the Presidency, allegedly kidnapped two famous people from South Korea's film industry so that North Korea could outshine its neighbour. Some said they went willingly: what is less ambiguously true is that they did indeed make films for their "dear leader", and in the end fled, in fear of their lives. It's a very odd tale, although actress Eun-hie Choi tells her side of it convincingly. But although as defectors the protagonists provided western intelligence with their best view yet into the mind of Kim, he remains mostly an inscrutable figure, whose true intentions (and grasp of reality) we can only guess at.

Very strange, very wistful and very true....

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 16 March 2017]

Back in the 1960s and 70s, Choi Eun-hee and her husband, Shin Sang-OK, were giants in the South Korean film industry. He directed many of his wife's films and the pictures were beloved by South Koreans...as well as an unlikely fan in the North, Kim Jong-il...the son of the country's dictator and the man who would one day take his place. Kim had envisioned creating a great North Korean film industry and instructed his spies to make it so--and they kidnapped Choi! When Shin went looking for her, he, too, was kidnapped and both disappeared off the radar. No one knew, exactly, what happened to them. Using interviews, old film footage and audio recordings they surreptitiously made of Kim, the documentary pieces together their long, sad journey back to freedom.

This is not an especially enjoyable film but is a story worth seeing. One of the reasons is that the film is very slow paced and I found my attention occasionally waning. Still, the story is one to hear and learn from despite its slowness.

Interesting historical tale

[Emerenciano · 6/10 · 17 March 2017]

For those who like to research about history and culture of different countries, North Korea is still a big mystery. While reading about the Kim dynasty the other day, I discovered little is known about Kim Jong- un, the "Supreme Leader" of the country. It is scaring to know this these days of internet and open information.

If NK government can do this today, we figure out how easy it was to do this decades ago. And it is on this idea 'The Lovers and the Despot' focus on. It was a time when Kim Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il, had absolute power over North Koreans and, among other things, used cinema to spread the idea North Korea should be an example of success and democracy.

Seeing this, watch "The Lovers and the Despot" and learn a bit more about this mysterious country.

A tall tale from North Korea

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 22 March 2017]

THE LOVERS AND THE DESPOT is an intriguing documentary that shines a light on an unexplored aspect of North Korea: the country's entertainment industry. The true story that it tells is so bizarre that it feels fictional in itself; North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was so fed up with the films being made by his country that he kidnapped a director and star that he admired from South Korea and forced them to make films in his own country.

I've seen one such film, the notorious monster flick PULGASARI, so I had some knowledge of this tale, but it still proves to be entertaining viewing. It's the usual mix of interview footage mixed with decent material from the era; particularly interesting is the audio footage of Jong-il himself, giving a glimpse into a mindset so often alien to the West. Some clips from the films in question are fun, but of course as a film fan I would have preferred to see more.

Fascinating if flawed stranger than fiction doc

[jamesfairburn · 7/10 · 26 January 2017]

Not knowing much about this story I was naturally intrigued to watch this doc. In a way, its a shame that even a few of the major elements of plot are given away in the promotion for the film, because its clear the film makers approach is to not take the viewer's preconceptions of the story as given, and the initial pace setting up the context and characters reflects this. It is an amazing story, and for the most part well told in an atmospheric noir fashion.

Personally, I am in favor of some kind of initial build up, as most modern docs, and fiction films too, have a pretty rushed pace. I liked the tone and eerie atmosphere in the first half, especially when we hear from some pretty amazing secret tape recordings. But I also feel that in the second half something was missing, I wanted to hear more about the couple's experiences in North Korea and I get the sense that much was left on the cutting room floor. Perhaps there will be a directors cut?

Overall, it is a pretty compelling documentary worth your time, as so much of it simply beggars belief, but I do wonder if a more interesting approach to the story could have been found. Having seen the excellent Listen to Me Marlon, could the film makers could have achieved the same kind of effect, just using tapes and movies?

One thing though, if you are going to watch it, don't read anything more about the story, just do it.

Compelling story but not compelling storytelling

[bob_meg · 4/10 · 27 September 2016]

This film is a shining example of a concept that many filmmakers grapple with today: simply presenting an intriguing story, then stepping back and turning on a camera does not assure a successful film. This failure of execution is of particular death to a documentary because the whole point is connection with the audience on an emotional level, thereby creating engagement and usually suspense --- suspense often much more cogent because it's not fiction. Talented doc-makers can achieve this with virtually any subject: food, talking-head philosophers, even type-settings ("Helvetica").

You'd think a doc about two filmmakers, Choi and Shin, kidnapped separately, then reunited and held against their will by a deranged dictator would be a snap to pull off.

But The Lovers and The Despot largely fails to achieve more than minimal engagement (unless, I guess, if you've never heard of the Kim dynasty or North Korea) because it rarely scratches the surface of the event itself or even the Koreas most of us know only from news footage. The film's pacing is extremely problematic in its sluggishness. It seems improbable to NOT know the basic premise even before going into this film: Struggle, abduction, pretend submission, veiled surveillance of the enemy, and escape. Yet it's forty minutes into the film before we exit act one and Choi is taken.

Yes, the Kims and particularly Kim Jong Il are huge mysteries. You could argue they are way more fascinating than Shin and Choi (who come off many times as shallow and facile. I doubt this, but when asked what films she is proud of Choi says "the ones that win awards"). Do we learn much about Choi's time --- FIVE YEARS --- with the dictator? No. It sounds for the most part as if she were left alone. I'm not discounting or minimizing Choi and Shin's ordeal. I'm attempting to relay how ineffective and downright boring much of this film is because the director, Paul Courtenay Hyu gives us so little information via interviews to engage with. For example, Shin obviously suffered after being sent to SIX camps after attempting escapes. How? No one knows or bothers to tell us.

I'm sure this film will have more resonance with viewers who have first-hand experience with totalitarianism. But that's not engaging with the film itself, it's engaging with the issue. We never get inside Choi or Shin's heads except to sympathize with their truly horrific ordeal of separation and that's a real shame. I feel this is largely the director's fault and the editing doesn't freshen anything either. For the most part the cutting is what you'd expect from a standard Behind The Scenes bonus feature, matching bits of Shin's film to the narrative in a numbing predictable way.

It's too bad but not too surprising to find many to this day don't believe Choi and Shin's story. This film doesn't go far in convincing anyone that it's beyond fiction, and that's the real tragedy since I do believe it's fact.

Brief photo-insights into a land we know about which we know little

[relate-47835 · 4/10 · 29 September 2016]

BBC is always a label that indicates I will be interested more than American films. The main review above indicating the many lapses of 'what happened then?' to the story presented left gaps to the understanding of the story of these 2 South Koreans, and left me, the viewer, wondering.

And this gaping was not just occasional but repeated with no further references to the lack clarifications - or the 'filling the holes' of their life's story.

However, because it is actual as documentary and many still fotos included where some filming was obviously impossible, the result is what is commonly seen on screens of historical events or celebrities. But then the repeated shots of a tape recorder became boring because they were continually used to validate the story. So those recordings were meant to be educational or make believably.

That the couple were abducted and held against their will is believable. But how the '5 yrs' of the actress's life in North Korea were lived was unclear - as to whether she was a mistress, only-an-actress-object, or a mainly a celebrity -- used to prove North had what the South loved and lost.

And while there is indication of her being drugged when abducted, but then that was left as a vague hint but w/o a more comprehensible description of the drug effects on her - or how long that drugging continued, or did not. I wondered.

That the dictator/ruler of North Korea used these celebrities for PRO-paganda purposes was the important msg. learned, Kim's holding people with the military power all autocratic rulers use. Some descriptions of the North Korea population's emotional reactivity was interesting, and while not stating clearly how that was produced, one could imagine some psychological ways that the repression and group-identity of large groups of people could then enclose them and reproduce their extreme attachment to 'their leader'.

So there were some revealing and educational benefits, plus the unusual topic, and real-story was a good lure to this movie. The female star's descriptions of her life then were believable too. Documentaries are appreciated when they show, teach, reveal, educate and explore what is lacking elsewhere and unknown. This film did so, tho the techniques were often repetitive and boring at times. Still worth watching for the rarity anyhow.

An engaging documentary

[Gordon-11 · 15 October 2017]

This documentary film tells the remarkable ordeal of a famous South Korean actress and a film director, who were kidnapped by North Korea in 1970's to strengthen the North Korean film industry. The actress recounts her multi-year ordeal, together with interviews from multiple people and the film director's voice recordings to tell the world their experience.

"The Lovers & the Despot" is a well executed documentary. It appears comprehensive, as it has extended interviews by Choi, Choi's children, US government officials, international film critics and even a Hong Kong police officer. It tells a horrible story of kidnapping, brainwashing and torture. It must have taken them great courage to speak up on record against the most secretive regime in the world. It is engaging and captures me throughout. Even though it is comprehensive, I am quite sure it only scratches the surface of what they have gone through in North Korea.

Only watched a portion - Not really a review sorry

[cscratch · 27 September 2017]

Just after a quick glimpse slightly confused. Why do the subtitles always say (speaking in Korean) and even say (Speaking in Korean) when 신상옥 recordings clearly have him speaking in Japanese? Why does the Hong Kong Police guy seem not very Police like - he also uses the date 30th February - is that used in Hong Kong?

Sorry stopped watching after these quibbles - tolerate! Watch it!