2009 Lost Memories (2005)

One of South Korea's top-grossing films, director Si-myung Lee's 2009: LOST MEMORIES blends sci-fi, action, politics, and history into a time-bending thriller which explores issues of national and cultural identity. Set in the year 2009, the film operates in an alternate reality where Japan retained control of its Korean colonies after World War II and the independent nation of Korea never existed. Masayuki Sakamoto (Dong-Kun Jang) is a Korean police detective comfortably assimilated into this Japanese-occupied state until a routine investigation reawakens his nationalist pride. Assigned to probe a terrorist attack on a museum exhibit displaying historical artifacts, Sakamoto is soon drawn into an underground network of Korean freedom fighters who seek their nation's independence. As Sakamoto's sympathy for the rebel group urges him into action, the Korean grows increasingly at odds with his Japanese best friend and partner Shojiro Saigo (Toru Nakamura)--setting the stage for a tense and bloody showdown.