Gunfire breaks out in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, leaving two North Korean soldiers dead while a South Korean soldier flees to safety. With the peace between the two nations on a knife-edge, it is left to neutral investigator Major Sophie Jean to determine what happened.

Before he came to international attention for his Vengeance Trilogy, cult auteur Park Chan-wook revealed his talent with this fraught DMZ drama. Comic-book compositions and a crackling energy done right, Joint Security Area tackles the charged subject of the border between North and South Korea.