Bit of a tangential point too, but the movie depicts bodyguards (or some type of security detail) wearing japanese kimonos and swords in the 30's. Would that be standard during this period?
Ok definitely a cool question. During this time period, you had a lot of different areas of the world getting colonized, especially Africa and Asia. India was also under British Rule. All of these different areas had their own methods of resisting rule. The same goes for Korea under Japanese Rule from 1910 to 1945.
Japanese colonial rule was a was a varied experience for Koreans. The Japanese rule was often quite harsh and the colonial government suppressed traditional Korean customs. Economic policies were implemented primarily for Japanese benefit. The Japanese removed the Joseon hierarchy and gave the census register to the Baekjeong and Nobi who were not allowed to have the census register during Joseon period.
In 1919, the last Joseon Emperor of Korea died, and people kinda freaked because they believed he had been poisoned by the Japanese. After a nationwide protest against Japanese colonialism (the March 1st Movement), Japanese rule relaxed somewhat, allowing a limited degree of freedom of expression for Koreans. The military police were replaced by a civilian force, and freedom of the press was permitted to a limited extent. Two of the three major Korean daily newspapers, the Dong-a Ilbo and the Chosun Ilbo, were established in 1920. There was still a suppression of Korean culture however. The school curriculum was radically modified to eliminate teaching of the Korean language and history. Korean itself was banned, and Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese names, and newspapers were prohibited from publishing in Korean. Numerous Korean cultural artifacts were destroyed or taken to Japan.
The Japanese occupation of Korea after annexation was largely uncontested militarily by the smaller, poorly armed, and poorly trained Korean army. Many former soldiers and other volunteers left the Korean Peninsula for Manchuria and Russia. Koreans in Manchuria formed resistance groups and guerrilla fighters known as Dongnipgun (I Blieve it translates to Independence Army), which traveled across the Korean-Chinese border, using guerrilla warfare tactics against Japanese forces. The Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1932 and subsequent Pacification of Manchukuo deprived many of these groups of their bases of operation and supplies. Interestingly, one of the guerrilla groups was led by the future leader of North Korea, Kim Il-sung.
Kimonos were not used everyday in Japanese culture or Korean culture under Japanese rule, same thing with swords. The Japanese wanted to come off as Westernized and modern (Meiji Restoration) so they forced their citizens to wear western clothes. That is not to say however that the use of swords or kimonos wasn't present, especially in Korea where the Japanese were enforcing their cultural values.