NYAFF Review: Jo Min-Ho’s A RESISTANCE, A Captivating Paean About A Heroine And Her Truest Faith
The first time I was exposed to actress Ko Ah-sung was with her role in Bong Joon-Ho’s hit film, Snowpiercer. She was an instant charmer on screen and was especially a thrill to see in Hong Won-Chan’s 2015 psychological murder thriller, Office. Ko’s newest role to date is one of the most viscerally-charged to date with A Resistance, writer and director Jo Min-Ho’s fourth film. The film is based on the life and times of protestor Yu Guan-Sun who was incarcerated among more than 47,000 others throughout for protesting against Japanese annexation. Our film takes us behind the drab, murky walls of Seodaemun Prison where our first sight of our protagonist, once her headcover is removed, is that of a beaten and battered Guan-Sun. At this point, her initial sentence was five years and then cut down to three, during which she’s visibly no stranger to the rough ends of […]