1987: When the Day Comes

A compelling depiction of how brave individuals from all walks of life mobilized a whole nation to bring a recalcitrant dictator and his henchmen to their knees.

here's an admirable dot-connecting quality to "1987," akin to HBO's "The Wire," as it wends from backroom scheming among powerful men to street riots starring an angry public ...

Throughout 1987: When the Day Comes we mostly see Investigator Park through the eyes of his victims- as a crazed psychopath who cannot be stopped and cannot be negotiated with...a fitting metaphor for the South Korean dictatorship as a whole.

"1987: When The Day Comes" is an impressive production, which includes almost every element of Korean cinema that has made it so popular internationally. However, everything that is bad about the country's movie industry at the moment is here also.

1987 shys away from the bullet points that historians have recorded in favor of the unremembered individuals whose actions contributed to free elections in South Korea.

1987 speaks more to our current moment than anything Hollywood is producing.

Slick and accomplished, 1987 is also single-minded and forthright in its intentions, propelled by an exasperated nation which demanded more of its public officials.

South Korea's fraught transition from dictatorship to democracy in 1987 is shaped with fictional detail and sometimes excessive melodrama, but as a political thriller Jang Joon-hwan's film has a tense urgency as the resistance slowly turns the tide.

The filmmakers turn these historical events into a satisfying, fast-paced, gripping and smart thriller, focusing on a myriad of characters all united by their activism and disgust for the men in charge.

Heartbreaking and inspiring, dark and illuminating, 1987: WHEN THE DAY COMES shows us how the power and beauty of cinema can capture a moment in time, and its ability to frame and glorify the human spirit.