A Bittersweet Life

When you sit back to watch this film, be prepared for a film that will open your mind,a film that will make you question humanity, and be prepared to be floored by a visual masterpiece which is rare by gangster movie standards.

From the first few shots we are feasted with beautiful shots, angles and little references that are simply delightful. The story unfolds showing the brighter side of life, the sweet side if you like. This is portrayed by Sunwoo eating a desert in the opening scene and then more food as the first half continues. The film then plays out to its darker half and we are shown the bitter side of life, which i wont go into and destroy for you.

Everything about this film just...Works, even the martial arts scenes are well edited and seem clever, rather than tricking us with quick camera cuts, we get a raw and violent slice of brutal gangster revenge, which again simply delights in a strange bitter way.

Simply put, A bittersweet life is simple plot, filmed and played exactly how it is meant to be, exactly how you want it to be. Every scene is fresh with humour or suspense which is so rare by todays standards.

This films plays out exactly how you want it to, with the exact camera angles it should, with the perfect music to back it all up. This film is a dark and visual spectacle that must be seen to be believed.

9/10

Overall a good film and while it plays with the action and drama, the film has massive potential to be so much more. As my title suggests the film is essentially two different films, which begins brightly before fading fast. The first half effortlessly introduces our protagonist and the majority of the cast effortlessly. While stereotypes are put into play they all show something a little different and the plot at it's quietest plays out quite well and to a high standard expected of korean cinema. Yet as Sun Woo's life begins to break down after a costly mistake, the quality and drama quickly takes a backseat to the all too familiar genre of action and revenge. Yet it is disappointing how a country full of great examples and almost infamously associated with the revenge genre can fail so easily. As with many action films it weaves a lot of style at the expense of logic and only gets worse exponentially as guns are introduced and you have a stylish action film which could've been born out of western cinema that lacks the story telling quality it started with. Muddled with a untidy conclusion the film would've been better if the last hour was taken out and the last few minutes kept in

I could sit here and start this review off any number of ways to make this film sound ultra important. I could say, once in a great while a film comes along, blah, blah. Or, Only a select few films ever have reached this, blah, blah. Or I could say, if you see one movie this year, blah, blah. You know the drill. These are the opening sentences the big-boy critics use when they really want you to see a flick and when they want a particular review to really stand out. Well, films that deserve this kind of "special" praise really do only come around once in a great while. Unbelievably, I have seen two in only six months time. The first was what I like to call the first real 21st Century film, and that was Oldboy. And the second film of this status also comes from Korea, believe it or not, and it is Bittersweet Life.

Bittersweet Life is probably one of the most simple, most streamlined modern films I have ever seen. It is lean, mean, and like its lead male, a damn ruthless fighting machine. The film beats along with its Raymond Chandler-like screenplay with all the jazz and style of early 90's John Woo and with the energy and themes of Quentin Tarantino's grind house 70's. Life plays with your emotions, making you care for the bad-guy hero even though he is a vicious killer, and causes one to release tension through laughter when the blood starts gushing like a dozen ruptured fire hoses. Wholesale death, blood by the gallons, broken bones and multiple beatings with humongous pipe-wrenches, two-by-fours, and lead pipes are on order, right after a heaping dish of innocent love and a guy trying for once to do the right thing.

The plot, well you see, it's like this: you can see everything coming a mile away, the movie plays it straight, and follows the exact path you know it will and the exact path you hope it will. There are no twist endings, no complicated triple crosses, no hidden motives for the characters. Everything on screen happens the way you see it, and everything thing ends exactly the way you picture it. And this is a good thing. The film is so on track that it doesn't need a twist or a swerve to make you pay attention. It starts at A, ends at E, and hits B, C and D on the way there. Life is so steeped in its genre tropes of noir character and themes that the ending is know to all of us before it even starts. However, it's the journey that matters, and I'll be damned if you can find a better-looking, more brutally violent journey anywhere.

As much as I try to analyze the film, nothing comes to mind. And this is the purest of all compliments. The film is as shallow as the pools of blood splattered in the hallways, alleyways and run down exteriors of the sets. Often times a director feels the need to bog a simple story down with twists, and a deeper meaning to hide the fact that they are afraid to just let things happen because they need to happen. Bittersweet Life is not one of these films. It exists with its soul laid bare for all to see, and when the carnage is complete, you thank the film for being honest with itself. As the final credits roll you might find yourself asking, "Is that it?" Yes, that is it—cinematic perfection. It is all it needs to be: pure and simple, boisterous and calm, bloody and drenched in gore and an honest movie with nothing to hide.

--genrebusters

I can see how this movie is well liked by many people. It's definitely different from a Hollywood movie, and a breath of fresh air from "the formula". At the same time, it's not so different as to cause discomfort or incomprehension. Violence is violence everywhere.

If you compare this movie against other great Asian action movie directors, than I think it's not that special. It's well done, but it's ultimately a light movie. A bit like an Asian version of an Hollywood action movie. There are some moments though (the end comes to mind), where the movie does show some signs of self awareness. But overall, it's a fairly straightforward, over the top gangster movie. If that's what you're looking for, you'll be pleased, but don't expect to be blown away by a masterpiece of cinema.

I had the luck to watch this gem at the Fantasy-Film-Festival in Frankfurt yesterday. It was shown in a theater with about 600 seats and against my expectations the room was packed with people.

In comparison with Oldboy or Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance the story is not as deep and goes more straightforward to the pure revenge theme. But this does not make the movie less enjoyable. The cinematography is brilliant and the main-character delivers a great performance. It contains beautifully choreographed martial-arts and gunfight scenes with references to masterpieces like Taxi Driver and Kill Bill.

Despite the fact it is very harsh in some scenes the humor does not come to short. The scene with a discussion of Korean-Russian wannabe-gangsters made me nearly wet my pants.