Dachimawa Lee

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Movie: Dachimawa Lee
Revised romanization: Dachimawa Lee - Akinyiyeo Jiokhaeng Geubhaengyeolchareul Tara!
Hangul: 다찌마와 리 - 악인이여 지옥행 급행열차를 타라!
Director: Ryoo Seung-Wan
Writer: Ryoo Seung-Wan, Hyeok-jae Kwon
Producer: Ryu Jeong-Hun, Kang Hye-Jeong
Cinematographer Jung Doo-Hong, Heo Myeong-Haeng
Release Date: August 13, 2008
Runtime: 99 min.
Genre: Action / Comedy
Distributor: Showbox
Language: Korean
Country: South Korea

Plot

Under Japanese imperialism, Korean national treasure Golden Buddha is stolen. More important to national security, the statue contains vital information concerning Korean freedom fi ghters and their whereabouts as well as their true identities. Once in Japanese hands, the list could do insurmountable damage to not only the country but to the safety of its citizens.

The interim Korean government appoints legendary Korean spy Agent Dachimawa Lee to recover the fabled statue and reveal the dark plot behind the theft. To make matter worse, Agent Lee’s partner and lover was killed during a reconnaissance mission inside the enemy territory.

With an assortment of wacky gadgets and martial arts moves, Dachimawa Lee and his sexy new partner Mari attempt recovery operation in Manchurian compound but fails miserably, loosing not only the statue, but Mari’s life and Agent Lee’s memory. He is rescued by a peculiar girl living alone in the desert who helps him recover his memory and train with a new weapon.

Having defeated the Chinese and his companion Border Lynx, he discovers that the failure was an inside job and fueled by rage of revenge, he must face off with the shadowy fi gure behind the plot on the snowy fi eld of Switzerland where the statue is believed to be hidden.

Notes

"Dachimawa Lee" was originally made as a 35-minute short film in 2000 by Seung-wan Ryoo. The 2008 version is not a remake, but takes the characters from the short film on a new adventure.
Dachimawa Lee is a Korean idiom used in the film industry, commonly referring to “thrilling action”.
Although the film takes place in many different locations (Shanghai, Manchuria Deserts, Princeton - New Jersey, and the Swiss Alps), the film was shot entirely in South Korea.
Related titles:
1. Dachimawa Lee (2000)

Cast



Lim Won-Hee	Kong Hyo-Jin	Park Si-Yeon	Hwang Bo-Ra	Ryoo Seung-Bum
Dachimawa Lee	Geum Yeon-Ja	Mari	Strange Girl	Border Lynx



Kim Soo-Hyun	Kim Byung-Ok	Ahn Kil-Kang	Oh Ji-Hye	Jung Suk-Yong
Damanegi	King Seo-Bang	Mr. Wang	Madame Jang	Agent 8

Additional Cast Members

Jo Deok-Hyeon - Hukashi
Lee Jeong-Hun - Yashi
Jung Woo - MP Captain
Jo Sang-Geon - Sir Kim
Kim Roe-Ha - General Kim
Kim Yeong-In - Dr. Nam
Garie (LeeSSang) - Wise Guy at Shanghai Station 1
Gil (LeeSSang) - Wise Guy at Shanghai Station 2
Kang Hyun-Joong - Passed out Bandit
Kwak Jin-Seok - mountain bandit
Goo Bon-Woong - mannerless guy 9
Kim Han-Joon - researcher
Lee Ka-Hyeon - Madame Jang's friend
Heo Hyeong-Gyu - Siren
Kim Heung-Rae - drill person with super human strength

Trailers

Image Gallery

Film Festivals

2008 (41st) Sitges Film Festival - October 2nd-10th
2008 (28th) Hawaii International Film Festival - October 9th-19th
2009 (19th) Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival - February 26th-March 2nd - Special Program
2009 (8th) New York Asian Film Festival - June 19th-July 5th
2010 (5th) Korean Film Festival In Paris - November 9-November 16 - Feature Films
2011 (6th) The London Korean Film Festival - November 4-10, 2011 - Retrospective: Ryoo Seung-Wan

Comments

Ki Dec 08 2008 9:31 pm Seung-wan Ryoo’s comedy/action/period opus “Dachimawa Lee,” doesn’t pretend to have deep characters or a complicated script. Rather the film is a slapstick comedy, that also offers a whole lot of spiffy action sequences. The title character Dachimawa Lee (played by Won-hie Lim) is a suave James Bond meets Austin Powers like secret agent, possessing enough Kimchi power to defeat the baddest of foes. The film features a running gag that Dachimawa Lee is oh so handsome and besides Won-hie Lim’s own mother, I’m not sure who will agree with that assessment, but it works …. most of the time.

Sometime during the Japanese colonial occupation of Korea (its a popular setting for Korean films in 2008), a Golden Buddha possessing a list with all of the Korean spies is lost by the Koreans. Secret agent Dachimawa Lee is enlisted to recover the Golden Buddha, to which he encounters set-back after set-back.

His trusted fellow agent Yeon-ja Geum (Hyo-jin Kong) perishes in Japan and he sets off with new partner Mari (Si-hyeon Park) to New Jersey to receive high-tech weapons to use against bandits in Shanghai. While fleeing the bandits’ stronghold in Shanghai, Dachimawa Lee loses partner Mari and then suffers an accident that causes him to lose all of his memory. Then, a strange girl (played by Bo-ra Hwang) nurses him back to health. Without his memory, he’s tortured by old nemesis Border Lynx (Seung-beom Ryoo). But before Border Lynx can put Dachimawa Lee out of commission, he suddenly regains his memory and puts Border Lynx and his gang out of commission.

The now re-invigorated Dachimawaa Lee sets off to Switzerland to recover the Golden Buddha and find the mole within his ranks once and for all.

Make no doubt it, the storyline is nothing more than a facilitator for Seung-wan Ryoo to unleash wave after wave off silly slapstick gags and his own signature brand of action sequences. The jokes, running the gamut from disgusting to hilarious, comes at you 100 mph. Similar to a stand-up comedian warming up, the jokes misses the mark at first, but becomes funnier as the story progresses and you become more accustomed with the movie’s idiosyncrasies. One of the stranger experiences you’ll have in Dachimawa Lee is watching Korean actors play Chinese and Japanese characters, but speaking Korean while using the intonations of those two countries to sound Chinese and Japanese. As an example, when the Chinese characters speak, they talk in Korean, but end every sentence with a rising “llllaaaa…” to sound Chinese. Nit picky viewers will note their intonations did mimic the Cantonese language, but the Chinese characters were based out of Manchuria - a region that speaks Mandarin. Meanwhile something that might pass under the radar of foreign viewers is the naming of Japanese villain as “Damanegi” (played by Su-yeon Kim). “Damanegi” is the Japanese word for “onion,” and consequently, you have this blond haired villain running around named literally “onion”. Also, the Japanese word “damanegi” became part of the Korean lexicon during the Japanese occupation, but its use is now frowned upon in favor of the native Korean word for onion.

The action scenes like most of Seung-wan Ryoo films are top notch. I’ll also say that it’s quite a sight to see Won-hie Lim flying around, karate chopping people unconscious with legs that seem no longer than his arms! Also, like Ryoo’s “City of Violence,” the use of the Seoul Action School extras played a prominent part in making those action scenes look so impressive. The many different settings is also a pleasure to watch and it should be noted that while the characters seemed to criss-cross the globe, all the filming was done in Korea. OK…when the setting was presumably set in the Swiss Alps, you could tell the scene was filmed on a Korean mountain, but the rest all looked real.

On the positive side, “Dachimawa Lee” offers a whole lot of bang for the buck. You’re treated to the eye-candy of Bond like girls Hyo-jin Kong and So-hyeon Park, while just as attractive Bo-ra Hwang plays a nearly unrecognizable girl stranded in the Manchurian Desert. Meanwhile, the action scenes provides just as much eye-candy as those Bond girls. The comedy element, the heart of the movie, is something of a mixed bag. There’s a handful of moments where you’ll laugh yourself to stitches, but there’s just as many times where you’ll hear a Gong Show like bell going off in your head from jokes that misses its mark. The script itself is intentionally thin, presenting a film that’s probably a love fest for the filmmaker, albeit a filmmaker with a peculiar sense of humor. If anything, “Dachimawa Lee” is one of the more unique films to come out of Korea this year…for better or worse.

Dachimawa Lee

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