Film 27 (9/15/2005)

A Bittersweet Life (2005)

Director: Kim Ji Woon

Recommended by: D_Davis

Has Fentablar seen this before?: No.

I had never seen a Korean film before and I'm glad that A Bittersweet Life was my first exposure to Korean cinema. This film is extremely well done and very entertaining. I am still pondering over the plausibility of certain aspects of its plot, but even if this pondering were to end unfavorably toward the film, I would still call it "very good".

In a nutshell, this is the plot: Sun-woo (Lee Byung-hun) is a bagman working for crime-boss Mr. Kang. Kang trusts Sun-woo as it's apparent he is Kang's best soldier. In the same scene we learn this we also learn that Moon (Kim Roe-ha), one of Kang's lieutenants (who "outranks" Sun-woo), is basically a screw-up, let alone somewhat disrespectful. At any rate, Kang asks Sun-woo to shadow Hee-soo (Shin Min-a) - Kang's girlfriend - to find out if she is fooling around with another man as he suspects. Should Sun-woo find out it is true, he is to either call Kang immediately or kill them both on the spot.

Of course, Sun-woo finds out that Hee--soo is indeed cheating. He sneaks into Hee-soo's home and catches them together. After a brief skirmish, both Hee-soo and her lover are sitting on the floor, Sun-woo pulling his phone out and preparing to call Kang. But he doesn't call Kang. He sees mental images of Hee-soo from moments when he was shadowing her - the way she brushed her hair behind the ear once, the way she looked at cello practice and how beautifully she played. This seems to be implying that he sees her as an innocent, one who doesn't deserve to die for this. My question is, how innocent can she be if she's cheating on Kang? D Soler pointed out to me that she's not entirely pure, but she is certainly innocent of the crime world. Ok, I can buy that. Plus, it seems that Sun-woo has developed those first enticing feelings we feel when we start to fall in love with someone, and those feelings can be enough to throw aside certain aspects of reason.

So, Sun-woo tells them that they must never see each other again - that they must erase the memories of that night from their minds and never speak of it or to each other again. Hee-soo tells him that it's an impossible thing to forget, but she will do what he says. Kang ends up finding out what happened, because Hee-soo is naturally afraid of him now, knowing that something horrible would have happened to her had Sun-woo not shown mercy. Kang is furious and wants retribution against Sun-woo for disobeying him. Ultimately, he wants Sun-woo to apologize for it Via Moon and several underlings, Kang has Sun-woo tortured and beaten, then gives him one last chance to explain why he did what he did. At this point, Sun-woo's rage boils over and he begins to exact his own revenge with some brilliantly choreographed scenes.

In the film's climax, Sun-woo as face to face with Kang, ready to shoot his long-time boss. He asks Kang why he did this to Sun-woo - this is one "mistake" after 7 years of extremely loyal, no-questions-asked service. Kang answers the question with his same question, asking Sun-woo why he let Hee-soo go. Sun-woo kills Kang and everyone else in the room, only to be killed himself by a gunman who arrives late (but really at just the right time) on the scene. This final scene is masterfully done and was a splendid way to bring closure to the story.

Yet, I wonder - why didn't Sun-woo tell Kang that he let Hee-soo go? Given his final question to Kang, I'm left with the thought that if Sun-woo really didn't understand why Kang would go to the extent he had, he may very well have just told Kang what happened figuring his boss who trusts him implicitly would understand. Through discussion with D Soler and D_Davis, the idea may be that Sun-woo's mercy toward Hee-soo indicates he is "done" with his mafia lifestyle and wants out of it, thereby altering his conceptions of where his loyalties truly lie. I don't know that I buy into this idea. I think that once Sun-woo gets betrayed by his boss, he certainly decides he's done with it all and wants to take revenge for the betrayal. Before that point, I don't see much in the way of evidence that Sun-woo's thinking had taken him in that direction.

Regardless of these plot questions, A Bittersweet Life is, as I've mentioned, a very well-done and entertaining film. This is one I will watch and enjoy many times over; I highly recommend it.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Plot Effectiveness: 4/5. This may change to a 5/5 if I figure out the answers to my questions.

Cinematography/Shot Selection: 5/5. Very appealing. A crisply filmed piece.

Overall Acting: 5/5. I felt the acting was superb, Lee Byung-hun is a very likeable actor who plays his character with deep precision.

Score/Soundtrack: 5/5. Eloquent.

OVERALL RATING: 4.5/5

~Fentablar~