R-Point

R-Point (Korean: 알 포인트) is a 2004 South Korean psychological horror wartime film written and directed by Kong Su-chang. Set in Vietnam in 1972, during the Vietnam War, it stars Kam Woo-sung and Son Byong-ho as members of the South Korean military in Vietnam. Most of the movie was shot in Cambodia. Bokor Hill Station plays a prominent part of the movie, in this case doubling as a French colonial plantation.[2][3][4] In 2011, Palisades Tartan re-released this film on DVD under the title Ghosts of War.[5]

R-Point
Theatrical poster
Hangul알 포인트
Revised RomanizationAl pointeu
McCune–ReischauerAl p‘oint‘ŭ
Directed byKong Su-chang
Produced byChoi Kang-hyeok
Chang Yoon-hyun
Written byKong Su-chang
StarringKam Woo-sung
Son Byong-ho
Oh Tae-kyung
Park Won-sang
Lee Sun-kyun
Ahn Nae-sang
Kim Byeong-cheol
Jeon Kyeong-ho
Mun Yeong-dong
Music byDalpalan
CinematographySeok Hyeong-jing
Edited byNam Na-yeong
Distributed byCinema Service
Release date
  • 13 August 2004 (2004-08-13)
Running time
107 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
Box office$6.7 million[1]

Plot

On 7 January 1972, the South Korean base in Nha-Trang, Vietnam, receives a radio transmission from a missing platoon that has been presumed dead.

In turn, the veteran and decorated Lieutenant Choi will lead a squad of eight soldiers, including Sergeant Jin Chang-rok to assist him, to extract the missing soldiers from Romeo point (R-Point) in one week. Upon arriving, they immediately encounter an enemy ambush who they discover to be a Vietnamese woman alongside a week-old corpse. They later find a tombstone with markings in what was formerly a lake saying that a hundred years ago, the Chinese killed the Vietnamese and dumped them into the lake. After that, they filled the lake and built a temple on it. Further, it said, “Wherever you go, I’ll be there. If you have blood on your hands". Narrowly missing the final epitaph of "you can't go back".

After their first night, a huge, empty mansion suddenly appeared where they set up their base. While checking the area, Corporal Joh Byung-hoon pees and gets left behind by his group. He sees other soldiers and follows them thinking they were from his unit. The other members of the unit search for him and find him hiding in a cave terrified to death. Corporal Joh relays the incident but they refuse to believe him.

Later that evening, while fixing the radio, Corporal Byun Moon-Sub receives a transmission from a French unit stationed nearby. A French army corporal named Jacques sent a message saying he has a twin brother named Paul who is also in the army. The Lieutenant however confirms that they’re the only unit in the area. Outside, Sergeant Oh confronts Corporal Joh regarding the helmet incident earlier saying that it belonged to one of the soldiers who went missing.

Before calling it a night, the soldiers happily dance to the radio that Corporal Byun fixed. However, their party was immediately cut short by voices of terrified screaming men recorded on the radio. On their second day, a soldier reports that their colleague is missing, Private Jung, who is supposed to be on duty from 6:00. While searching, a pool of blood suddenly drenches Sergeant Park. They find Private Jung’s dead body hanging from a rope.

Upon returning to their base, the unit's radio finally reaches the headquarters and reports what happened. On the radio, Captain Park said that Private Jung was one of the missing soldiers that the unit is supposed to rescue. Later that night, the soldiers try to recall Private Jung’s face but cannot.

Throughout their stay in R-point, Lieutenant Choi has visions of a lady in an áo dài. Sergeant Oh then encounters the ghost of his friend. He runs away and accidentally falls for the booby trap that they have set up earlier and dies.

On the 4th day, the unit divides into two groups to search the area again. A terrified Corporate Joh, mistakenly thinks he sees a ghost and accidentally fires at Sergeant Mah who immediately dies.

On the 5th day, they contact headquarters and request for immediate extraction. The earliest rescue, however, will come the next day. Sergeant Jin then seemingly returns and says they should have never come to R-Point. Though he was able to state his name and rank completely at the Lieutenant’s request, he suddenly beheads Sergeant Park before being shot dead by the soldiers. Lieutenant Choi then orders everyone to verify their names and ranks. Corporal Byun appearing to be possessed is gunned down by Lieutenant Choi but not before removing the pin of a grenade from his jacket, blinding the youngest soldier, Sergeant Jang Young-soo, who was standing near him.

While the lieutenant helps Sergeant Jang, Corporal Lee Jae-pil laments the situation their in, to Corporal Joh who also seems possessed and shoots him. The lieutenant subsequently kills Corporal Joh right. With two of them left, Lieutenant Cho finds a picture of foreign soldiers with the lady in áo dài in Sergeant Jang Young-soo's pocket. When she appears, Lieutenant Cho asks Sergeant Jang to pick up his rifle. Knowing he may turn out like his colleagues, the lieutenant instructs the Sergeant to point the weapon in his direction and fire. The next morning, Sergeant Jang was found alone by the rescue team, with the corpses of the 8 other soldiers missing.

Cast

Release

Marketing

Before the film was released, filmmakers conducted viral marketing to promote the film. The official website, www.rpoint.com, carried several fictional articles such as a journal written by an American war correspondent, statements made by various soldiers who witnessed events portrayed in the film, radio transmissions supposedly received by Korean soldiers, Internet news links about missing Korean soldiers in Vietnam, and a fictional timeline of R-Point.

Reception

R-Point receives mixed reviews, with the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes offers as "Rotten" a score of 55% from 11 critics, and a rating average of 6.11 out of 10.[6]

Awards and nominations
2004 Blue Dragon Film Awards[7]
2004 Korean Film Awards
2005 Grand Bell Awards
  • Best Sound - Kang Joo-seok, Lead Sound
  • Nomination - Best New Director - Kong Su-chang

See also

References
  1. "R Point - Box Office Mojo". boxofficemojo.com.
  2. Yang, Sung-jin (19 August 2004). "R-Point puts fresh spin on the horrors of war". The Korea Herald via Hancinema. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  3. Kim, Hyun-jung (17 May 2016). "R-Point". Korean Film Biz Zone. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  4. Kim, Kyu-hyun (27 February 2006). "R-Point movie and DVD [review]". www.ohmynews.com via Hancinema. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  5. "Ghosts of War". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  6. R-Point (2005), retrieved 11 January 2021
  7. "R-POINT". www.cinemasie.com.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.