Rating of
4/4
A Bittersweet Life (Kim JI Woon, Korea)
PunkGeisha - wrote on 08/28/10
The director would be much more known for his extraordinary and different kind of Horror in A Tale of Two Sisters and the hilarious black comedy ]The Quiet Family. This actually reveals he’s a real thespian of a movie maker who can delve into any kind of genre without sacrificing the trademark of his works. Classy.
A Bittersweet Life is probably one of his best. Proving once against that he can lay his hand on any kind of material and lift it out of being a stereotypical ho-hum kind of movie. More than anything else, the premise by which this movie was based on is very much something that could easily fall prey into that category. A modern-day story of betrayal, revenge and some gangsta cool. The Koreans called it action noir that brings to mind John Woo’s directorial style. Stylish and dark.
Played by Korean idol Lee Byung Hun, Sun-Woo is an enforcer who worked for a mob and stands as one of his most trusted, the very reason why his boss and mentor entrusted the job of looking after his young mistress whom he suspects as having an affair. He cannot say it more explicitly that he expects Sun Woo to kill her as soon as his suspicions were realized.
This has to be the turning point. For all his unfeeling demeanor, Sun Woo decided to let the two live and earned the perpetual ire of his boss which resulted in him being ostracized from the group, tortured with the promise of certain death. Perhaps he snapped, for the next scenes narrate of a gruesome vendetta against the very same person whom he had served for years. Kim did not complicate the theme by going into some very strange twists and turns but told the story as it is. Revenge and just the basic human fear of death. One glaring and refreshing way he dished out this is telling that man simply would beg for their own life. Not for anything else but for just another chance of going on with life no matter how they get it.. Even humiliate and degrade themselves. Very much a human reaction.
Sun woo, for the life of him cannot comprehend how his once *idyllic* life could turn out to be such a nightmare with just a simple lapse of judgment on his part. One insignificant wrong in a long and almost dog-like way he led as an enforcer for the mob. How his loyalty to his boss could turn out into a nightmarish existence just to stay alive. It was something that he keeps on questioning to the very end when it looked like he would let him live. He could not fathom this reality and once he snapped out of it and finally realized that it wasn’t all just a product of his imagination, Sun Woo launched into a horrific journey of guns, torture and intense promise of retribution to those who had so wronged him.
True, the theme is nothing new. It has been explored, re-explored, modified and made into something more compelling by every director there is in Asia including John Woo ( Harboiled), Park Chan Wook ( Old Boy) or even Kinji Fukasaku (The Yakuza papers).
In this modern day tale of hard guns, sleek suites and revenge Kim added his own personal touch by molding the character played by Lee Byung Hun carefully. How can a totally self –controlled and almost unfeeling loyal servant lose his cool, handle betrayal and face death at the hands of those he had served well? Sun Woo did show us… in that compelling, sinister, epiphany inducing YET sad way.
Easily one of Kim Ji Woon’s best films.
