Movie Review: Dalkomhan Insaeng aka A Bittersweet Life, directed by Kim Jee-Woon
Made in South Korea, this is a mob story about a very sharp mob enforcer named Kim. Kim’s boss runs a large hotel downtown. One evening he is asked to take care of a situation in one of the private rooms in the restaurant that is being held by three members of a rival gang. Kim goes into the room and counts to three for them to leave. On the count of three he leaps on top of the table kicking one thug in the face, while punching another. The third got the worst of it with a bottle of wine to the head. This all happened in the first five minutes of the film! Unfortunately, this set off a chain of events that slowly reveals itself as the film progresses. A couple of days later, Kim’s boss asked him to keep an eye on his new girlfriend while he is away on a trip. She is a college age woman that he suspects may be seeing someone her own age. If she was he ordered Kim to kill her and her lover. After spending time following the girl, and spending time with her he realizes that he couldn’t kill them, and orders them both not to see each other again. That may have been a big mistake. With the boss out of town Kim makes the situation between his gang and the rival gang a little more intense by not apologizing to the Jr. Boss’ son. The mob never forgets no matter where you live, and Kim found that out the hard way. The fight scenes in this movie are top notch. There were even some moments that was so well done that it was hard to believe that they were choreographed. They open a six pack of whip ass quick fast and in a hurry in this film which adds to the realism. One of my favorite scenes in the movie involves one man against a gang in a warehouse. Very good stuff. Pros: Good plot. Great fight scenes. Great acting. 3 out of 5 kicks to da head Rated MA -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
