A Bittersweet Life
Title: A Bittersweet Life
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Crime, Drama
Starring: Byung-Hun Lee
Director: Ji-Woon Kim
Language: Korean
From the mastermind who handed us one of the most powerful horror films of the past decade (“The Tale of Two Sisters”) comes his follow-up, trading his dark brand of horror for...well a new brand of darkness. One with gangsters, and a surprising absence of weaponry. The protagonist in this tale are all the more comfortable dealing with matters using their own two hands (and any items that happen to be held in them). Following the life of a hotel owner, Sunwoo, not afraid to get his hands a little dirty for his frequent guests of somewhat questionable morals, Kang is an agent for the underbelly of society but whilst tough on those who oppose him, has a soft spot for a younger woman. Suspicious as to whether she is faithful to him, Sunwoo agrees to follow her and discover the truth under order to deal with anything that might arise; discovering her second lover, in a rare moment of kindness he lets them both live, and in doing so unleashes the dogs of war. With Kang after his head, the protection bestowed by their friendship means that he isn’t the only person with a score to settle, and so one by one, he does what he must to clear his name and bring himself closer to Kang.
I must admit this film was more than a little disappointing. For one thing, I went in expecting plenty of bloody action; sadistic and violently torturous, lecherous underworld criminals and cold and calculated assassins carrying out their duties, but it wasn’t. It came infrequently and was often over all too quickly, and even by modern standards the wounds survived is ridiculous.[1] The plot, too, is all over the place; the lead’s justified arrogance early on replaced by a somewhat more fearful character when put on the spot; capable of dispatching enemies without batting an eyelid but vomits when someone dangles a knife in front of him when tied up; never knowing love but deciding to save this one woman for no apparent reason; the response to this act of sparing a friends lover is naturally, to kill him, and the fact that for ¾ of the film no member of this criminal underworld thought to get their hands on a gun. It all feels more than a little convenient.
Where this film finds most of its redemption is in its Godfather-like political power plays, swaying allegiances and contacts upon contacts making secretive decisions by phone and in the dark alleyways, threats and warnings and from the shadows they strike. Watching our young enforcer at work proved more fascinating in itself than the tired and derivative action scenes; the build-up to the end demonstrating far promise than the semi-parodical finalé itself, and whilst delivering little in the way of originality as far as the plot is concerned, demonstrated this sense of cold-hearted ruthlessness towards the groups he is forced to associate with like
few are capable of. In fact, it could be argued that he took this notion too far; the lead character of Sunwoo becoming very difficult to enter his frame of mind and understand, all too often only capable of displaying the most primal of emotions.Films such as these so rarely feel original, re-using the same tired plots and failing to match up to the wealth of great films already in existence. What’s needed is a sense of originality – a new spin on the old idea – but instead this simply reminds me of the likes of Scarface and the Godfather, and asks of me why I’m not watching them instead. Ji-Woon Kim is certainly adventurous, releasing a bold but brilliant horror film, finishing work on this and then coming up with a comedy to top it all off, but it would seem that this is perhaps one style that he isn’t best suited to.
» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Comments
Post a Comment