Nabbeun namja (Bad Guy) (2003)

42% of critics liked it
(31 reviews)
70% of users liked it
(5,213 ratings)

While strutting through Downtown Seoul, Hang-gi, a local gangland pimp, spots young Sun-hwa, a pretty, middle-class college student, waiting on a park bench. He sits next to her, creating a disparate scene of two classes in soft harmony, until she sneers at his advances and rushes into the arms of… More While strutting through Downtown Seoul, Hang-gi, a local gangland pimp, spots young Sun-hwa, a pretty, middle-class college student, waiting on a park bench. He sits next to her, creating a disparate scene of two classes in soft harmony, until she sneers at his advances and rushes into the arms of her preppy boyfriend. Offended, he grabs her and forcefully kisses her. Sun-hwa demands an apology, and when Ha-Gi refuses, he is beaten by a group of soldiers who had witnessed the assault. As a final insult, Sun-hwa spits in his face while he is restrained. Soon after, Sun-hwa makes the mistake of taking a seemingly forgotten wallet filled with cash. She is apprehended by the owner, and forced to pay a huge sum or be turned into the police. With no money, she signs a contract that results in her being sold into prostitution to repay the debt. Whisked away to the neon colors of a Seoul brothel, her introduction to street life is harsh and cold, her teacher an iron-hearted woman with only disdain for the untrained Sun-hwa. As she is brought into her drab room for her first encounter, we learn who is really behind her imprisonment. Watching from behind a double mirror in her room, sits Hang-gi, the 'Bad Guy.' As Sun-hwa descends further and further into street life, she takes on the full-fledged traits of a john-luring prostitute. Hang-gi's curtain parts to reveal Sun-hwa's harsh education through the mirror, and his tears expose his growing feelings for her. Hang-gi's language is reduced to facial gestures, his throat marked with the long lash of a scar straight across from ear to ear. After a failed escape attempt, Sun-hwa is taken to the seashore by Han-gi. Here she is confronted with a series of mysterious torn photographs that seem to suggest a hidden past or even a possible pre-determined future between Han-gi and herself.

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: Ki-duk Kim
Written By: Ki-duk Kim
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Nov 11, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Jun 28, 2005
Studio: Lifesize Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Hank Sartin, Chicago Reader
The audience is subjected to a series of emotional contortions, encouraged to experience them like a voyeur, and then scolded for doing so.
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
His fascination with allegory and symbols is evident here, too, but his narrative strays too far from the dreamlike towards the just plain dumbfounding.
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
The film is filled with lovely images (Kim studied painting in France), and ultimately becomes, against all expectations, quite moving.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
As a case study of one disturbed woman it might be interesting; presented as some sort of deathless love story, it's merely distasteful.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Really, who needs a bad guy who's this guilty about being bad?
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Becomes more and more confused, unpleasant and preposterous.
Prairie Miller, Long Island Press
After the experience of this down and dirty South Korean psychological thriller, park benches may never quite seem the same.
Prairie Miller, Long Island Press
After the experience of this down and dirty South Korean psychological thriller, park benches may never quite seem the same.
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
Uma história de amor absolutamente atípica que, depois de provocar uma estranheza inicial, acaba levando o espectador a mergulhar em sua lógica particular.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
It's all distressing, superficial and caveman-like in its amour fou.
Jean-François Vandeuren, Panorama
Kim Ki-duk nous offre qu'un simple exercice de style se concentrant uniquement sur sa prémisse de départ sans se soucier des éléments extérieurs au récit.
Rudy Joggerst, Reel.com
Can filmmaking be any more stimulating than that?
Jesse Paddock, culturevulture.net
The plotting keeps getting away from Kim as the story progresses.
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
I was confused and discomfited by Bad Guy , but I loved it too.
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Fans of the film will want to opt for the Region 2 disc of the film if they wish to hear Kim yap away over the non-stop spectacle of female degradation.
Brian Gibson, Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
Bad Guy's riddles are so hauntingly strange and its plot so artfully ambiguous that you just might find the film's grip harder to shake than Han-gi's unnerving silence.
Tim Cogshell, Boxoffice Magazine
It's difficult to watch and even more difficult to understand, but the intriguing material is generally well-crafted.
Jim Slotek, Jam! Movies
Bad Guy's greatest fault is that it is a listless exercise, that goes nowhere except further into the mire.
Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly
One can't get out of the theater fast enough.
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
So vilely misogynistic does the film appear at first glance that it's no surprise it hasn't been previously released here...

Read all 22 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Lee ?

Probably one of the most twisted love stories ever made into a film. It's set in South Korea and is about a gangster who finds instant attraction towards a young college student and becomes so infactuated he conjures a plan that has her forced into prostitution under his watchful… More
Probably one of the most twisted love stories ever made into a film. It's set in South Korea and is about a gangster who finds instant attraction towards a young college student and becomes so infactuated he conjures a plan that has her forced into prostitution under his watchful eye in order to pay off her loan. It's an interesting film for sure but it's quite disturbing and unpleasant as the poor female victim struggles with her desperate situation who grows to both loathe and love the man responsible for her predicament. The 'Bad Guy' also struggles with his love and guilt towards the woman whilst trying to maintain order in and around the brothel he monitors leading to some violent confrontations with clients and other gangsters. Very well acted by all. It did have some slow moments though. It won't be for everyone - especially feminists - but it's worth one viewing for those not easily offended.
Drew S

There's some exceptional visual trickery present in Bad Guy - Kim Ki-Duk's play at duality and reflection with constant graphic references to glass and mirrors, though obvious, yields some great-looking results - but unfortunately the metaphor just doesn't sustain Bad… More
There's some exceptional visual trickery present in Bad Guy - Kim Ki-Duk's play at duality and reflection with constant graphic references to glass and mirrors, though obvious, yields some great-looking results - but unfortunately the metaphor just doesn't sustain Bad Guy. It's an interesting byproduct of a film that preoccupies itself more with repetitive scenes of violence or threatened violence, which starts out menacing but falls victim to diminishing returns until you've basically tuned all the sound and fury out. Worse yet are the utterly bland main characters, a hopeless and unsympathetic brat-cum-prostitute and the progenitor of Kim's archetypal but unpolished silent man of action. Like the film, these characters and their respective performances are competent, but completely lacking in dramatic inflection. You spend nearly the entire movie waiting for it to break the cycle of total sameness, but by the time it finally does you're beyond caring. Totally skippable. It doesn't even have the distinction of being significant chronologically for Kim - The Isle came first and is, by all accounts, better. It's good that he went on to make much more provocative, fleshed-out films than this. I guess it served as a stepping stone for him.
Arash X

Not just a sick movie, Imo it manages to make a few fair points, Thoought provoking with some impressive moments
Luke B

Kim Ki Duk has an amazing ability to create characters who are real. In fact they are so real their actions seem unrealistic. In this film, we see a very unlikeable man fall in love. He is obviously socially incompetent and becomes obsessive. Like many of Duk's films there are no… More
Kim Ki Duk has an amazing ability to create characters who are real. In fact they are so real their actions seem unrealistic. In this film, we see a very unlikeable man fall in love. He is obviously socially incompetent and becomes obsessive. Like many of Duk's films there are no easy answers, and not everything is justified. Brilliant performances and some confrontational scenes add to the shocking impact. Another quiet and engaging piece.
Eduardo C

Harsh, cruel, uncompromising yet also strangely uplifting masterpiece by Kim Ki-Duk, like most of the master's works this one is not for everyone. At its core it could be viewed as an incredibly unconventional love story with sado-massochistic overtones, but reducing it to… More
Harsh, cruel, uncompromising yet also strangely uplifting masterpiece by Kim Ki-Duk, like most of the master's works this one is not for everyone. At its core it could be viewed as an incredibly unconventional love story with sado-massochistic overtones, but reducing it to that would be a disservice to the film. There is so much more going on, at the edges of the frame, such magic, such hope even ammongst the nihilism that the film is able to get away with a lot, especially during the last 30 minutes, as by this point it has long since established itself as a poem first and foremost.