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The Berlin File

5.9

1,387

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Original title

The Berlin File

Year

2013

Running time

120 min.

Country

South Korea

Director

Ryoo Seung-wan

Screenwriter

Ryoo Seung-wan, Ted Geoghegan

Cast

Cinematography

Choi Young-hwan

Producer

Film Base Berlin, Filmmaker R&K, Sun & Moon Pictures Intl

Genre

Thriller. Action | Spy Film

Synopsis

A North Korean agent in Berlin is betrayed and cut loose in the midst of a financial espionage intrigue. Together with his wife, a translator at the North Korean embassy in Berlin, they try to escape being purged, as North and South Korean operatives relentlessly pursue them.

Awards: 2013: Blue Dragon Film Awards (South Korea): Best Cinematography. 5 nominations

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Critics' reviews

"'The Berlin File' benefits from gritty surroundings that add a cold war realism to this otherwise confusing tale of conflicted loyalties and secret agendas (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"

Linda Barnard: Toronto Star
"'The Berlin File' boasts knockout action setpieces that provide an impressive big-budget showcase for Ryoo Seung-wan's technical smarts”

Maggie Lee: Variety
"The story feels fairly perfunctory (...) but the well-connected leads do their best to ground it. (...) The intense action scenes consistently deliver some solid genre jolts (...) Rating: ★★ (out of four)”

Elizabeth Weitzman: New York Daily News
"As soon as 'The Berlin File' takes flight with its exhilarating action set pieces, memories of any muddles evaporate amid the tension and vivid engagement with settings, from courtyards to fields."

Nicolas Rapold: The New York Times
"Everything here, except the action scenes, [feels] sluggish and rote (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"

David Fear: Time Out
"There is something sharp, exciting and more original tucked within 'The Berlin File' - and it is in moments a sleek, crackling film - but it all feels somehow misshapen."

Mark Olsen: Los Angeles Times
"A convoluted plot with a humanistic angle (...) Interestingly, the villain is not the North Korean Government that some anti-war movies try to show, but an individual officer in the regime"

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The Berlin File

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