Pure Asia follows a nameless Japanese teenager at a time of extreme tension between Japan and North Korea. When a beautiful girl saves him from a mugging she drags him away and onto a train. Hoping to meet her again, the next day he waits outside the station to see if she comes past. When she does, he is shocked to see that she is in Korean dress. As the boy stands helplessly by she is surrounded by a group of Japanese students who bully and eventually kill her.
After watching the funeral from afar, the boy meets the girl’s sister, almost identical to her in appearance but the polar opposite in attitude. Hell-bent on revenge against just about everyone, she drags the boy on a journey of vicious destruction and blind vengeance, culminating in a shocking and unpredictable conclusion reminiscent of Dr. Strangelove in both its absurdity and tragedy.
The director has enticed fresh, invigorating performances from the lead actors and puts equal skill into the camera-work. Shot in stark black and white, Pure Asia is a road movie of grief in all its guises. Shocking, affecting and lent extra strength by it its political resonance, it’s a morality tale that shows us that the greatest evil of all comes from those who stand by and do nothing.