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Rating Averages
My Friends |
Not rated. () |
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All Flixster |
(1303) |
603 |
3991 |
Female |
(259) |
211 |
1977 |
Male |
(1044) |
392 |
2014 |
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Plot:
An elegant sky lounge floating like an island in the sky above Seoul, it's like Sun Woo's own little castle. After 7 years he has climbed to the top, managing the upscale lounge and restaurant. An int...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:May 15, 2008
definitely more bitter than sweet. the visual inventiveness of this was my highlight. some great action sequences and killer sound would be the main drawcard here. not entirely sold on the plot or charcters but survives with out excelling in these fields.
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MCT:April 23, 2008lee byung-hun is extremely watchable. though his facial expression seems to rarely change. this is really a great noir film. i will also note several great ironic scenes...no spoilers!
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MCT:April 16, 2008
an OldBoy revenge plot-style korean flick with guns. Brilliant sound and scene mixing with great characters. It's the kind of movie that best left some questions unanswered and let us think and speculate that will probably leave us with different assumptions and reasons for each person who watch it.
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MCT:April 14, 2008
A nice one. Some compare it with Oldboy which I think is far better.
Another movie dedicated to revenge. I think a little more filosophy would make the movie far better. -
MCT:April 14, 2008I can see why many people would dismiss a film like a Bittersweet Life so easilly in a first view. Claiming is nothing but a recopilation of cliches from everything to John Woo to Tarantino to Scarface and back. A Pure "style over substance" in the worst possibly way, etc etc. After all, there are dozens of crime/gangster films that are made every year that follow that path in the laziest way possibly.
Thankfully, A Bittersweet Life is the exact opposite of cheap knock off in the crime/gangster genre. The film that mostly resambles in terms of mood and character would be Jean Pierre Melville's "Le Samourai". Just like Alain Deloin's silent killer, Kim Sun-Woo is a hard faced-cold-as-ice tough guy that seems to be devoid of any emotion. He works as a hotel manager, but at the same time, as the right hand of an important mobster.
His boss gives him a task, to watch over a young mistress he jealously treasures. If Sun Woo happens to catch her with another guy he must kill both in the act. Sun Woo starts following the girl, but something starts to happen. Little by little he begins to feel something, is not love, after all he has never experienced that. What he starts to experiment is a feeling of comfort, of inner peace. The girl lives a normal and simple life. She likes to go to discos, to decorate her house with colorfull stuff. She enjoys life in a way Sun Woo has never enjoyed his own, even while having plenty of luxuries.
Sun Woo decides to hide from his boss that the girl was having an affair with another guy, and that he spared her life. After all, in his mind, he did the right thing, like his boss told him earlier, she was different from men like them. Neverless, this decision proofs to be fatal for Sun Woo, but for his boss as well.
Another user here, Jundaman, say it well, of course ABL touches familiar film-territory, but is the "how" and not the "what" that makes the whole difference here. The way the movie truly dedicates time to develop the main character, how we see a transformation in him, sets ABL way apart from other entries in the genre. When the action occurs it actually has a meaning, it feels like a consequence of the acts of the characters and not just like mindless thrill fillers to distract the audience.
ABL deserves every bit of praise it can get. This is the type of films that define genres and create tendencies, it might be too soon to see that, but the sooner you know, there will be other crime films trying to emulate the mood of this film.
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A Bittersweet Life (Dalkomhan insaeng) Recent Reviews
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Comments
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MRVENGEANCEposted 321 days ago -
BTW, for all the twist-ending obssesed people (BIG SPOILERS)
He wasn't dreaming the whole thing, the last shot of him shadow-boxing happened after he beated Baek Jr's goons in the beginning. This was a way director Kim Ji Woon was showing the contrast of the "before" and "after". How Sun Woo's life came crashing down after being in the top of the world.
Whatever you get from that scene there is one thing clear, it was NOT a "it was all a dream" twist ending. I really can't see why people think that, frigging plot twists of these days, everyone thinks almost every movie will have one.
SPOILER ENDSposted 470 days ago -
Mark my words people, this movie is a little cult gem in the making, if it's not one already. Maybe it's still far from getting the recognition it deserves, but it would be a matter of time for that.
posted 497 days ago
