Main Cast: Lee Byeong-heon, Kim Young-cheol, Shin Min-ah, Hwang Jeong-min, Kim Rwe-ha
Release Year: 2005
Country: KR
Run Time: 118 minutes
Plot
Writer/director Kim Jee-woon followed up his hit horror film, A Tale of Two Sisters, with this violent crime drama, A Bittersweet Life. Sun-woo (Lee Byeong-heon of Joint Security Area) is a devastatingly effective, but businesslike enforcer for Mr. Kang (Kim Young-cheol), a mob boss who owns La Dolce Vita, the Seoul nightclub where Sun-woo employs the sloppier, less reliable Mun-suk (Kim Rwe-ha of Memories of Murder) to keep things running smoothly. Kang is involved in a developing feud with another boss, President Baek (Hwang Jeong-min), when he goes on a business trip, leaving Sun-woo in charge, and discreetly asking him for a special favor. There's a "special" young woman he's been seeing, Hee-soo (Shin Min-ah of Volcano High). He suspects she's been seeing another man, and he asks Sun-woo to look after her while he's gone, and find out if she's cheating on him. If Sun-woo catches them together, Kang tells him, he should either phone Kang and tell him, or "finish them off yourself." But Sun-woo finds himself fascinated with Hee-soo, a cellist, and his inability to follow Kang's orders soon brings a world of trouble down on his head. Of course, Sun-woo is fully capable of making some trouble of his own. A Bittersweet Life was shown at the 2006 New York Asian Film Festival, presented by Subway Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Review
Kim Jee-woon's gorgeous, ecstatically violent A Bittersweet Life doesn't have the haunting psychological resonance of his previous film, the chilling A Tale of Two Sisters, but fans of stylish action films are unlikely to complain. Owing a great deal to the inventive gunplay of John Woo's Hong Kong films (with nattily dressed, implacable Lee Byeong-heon standing in for Chow Yun-Fat) and the storyline of the Coen brothers' Miller's Crossing, A Bittersweet Life occasionally seems to strain for portent, as in the "philosophical" narrations that bookend its relatively routine revenge plot, and its use of pretty music in ironic counterpoint to the gory battles onscreen. Still, it's impeccably acted -- with Lee Byeong-heon taciturn, dour performance convincingly enhanced by one brief unexpected moment of happiness -- and stunningly shot and edited, both in its impressive action set pieces (the one in which Sun-woo [Lee] digs his way out of a shallow grave to do battle, and the one in which two unarmed combatants race to assemble their respective pistols are particularly memorable -- the kind of scenes that get genuine action fans buzzing about a film) and in its more contemplative moments, as it builds its way to unfettered mayhem. Throughout the movie, characters urge each other to "be reasonable," but it's not going to happen. If it did, the movie would be over rather quickly. Wounded pride, bruised egos, and a universal refusal to acknowledge that one may have acted or spoken rashly seem to precipitate the carnage, more so than any "sweet dream" anyone might have had. Things repeatedly spiral out of control, with hubristic aggressors frequently shocked to find themselves the victims of brutality. As with so many revenge movies, all the bloodshed leads to emptiness rather than justice. It's a familiar theme, but perhaps it's a necessary one for our age. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Cast
Lee Byeong-heon - Kim Seon-woo
Kim Young-cheol - Boss Kang
Shin Min-ah - Heui-su
Hwang Jeong-min - Boss Baek
Kim Rwe-ha - Mun-seok
Mun Chong-hyuk - Tae-gu; Lee Gi-yeong - Oh Mu-sung; Oh Dal-su - Myeong-gu; Jin Gu - Min-gil; Kim Hae-gon - Tae-woong
Credit
Jo Sang-gyeong - Costume Designer, Kim Jee-Woon - Director, Choi Jae-geun - Editor, Park Dong-Ho - Executive Producer, Jeong Du-hong - Fights Choreographer, Dal Palan - Composer (Music Score), Jang Yeong-gyu - Composer (Music Score), Ryu Seong-heui - Production Designer, Kim Ji-yong - Cinematographer, Oh Jeong-wan - Producer, Eugene Lee - Producer, Choi Tae-yeong - Sound/Sound Designer, Kim Gyeong-tae - Sound/Sound Designer, Kim Jee-Woon - Screenwriter
