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A Bittersweet Life (Kim Ji-woon - 2005)
South Koreas best entry into the modern film noir genre and an absolute feast for the senses. Imagine the hard-boiled sensibility of Raymond Chandler combined with the stylistic flourishes and uber violence of OldBoy and you'll be in A Bittersweet Lifes ballpark. Lee Byung-hun stars as Kim Sun-woo - a strong silent type employed as an enforcer and manager of a hotel owned by one of the citys crime bosses, Kang (Kim Yeong-cheol), to whom he has pledged unquestioning loyalty. When Kang suspects his young wife of adultery he orders Kim to investigate and kill the two if his suspicions are justified. Kang's wife is indeed having an affair, but rather than kill the two Kim relents and instead of killing them sends them into exile. Things do not go well for Kim when Kang inevitably discovers the truth of what's happened. The remainder of the film is concerned with the cat and mouse game between the two men with Kang sending his men to kill Kim and Kim stubbornly refusing to die. Kim Ji-woon keeps the tension high for a full two thirds of the films running time, and is aided by a wonderfully controlled performance by Lee Byung-hun. There are a couple of set-pieces very reminiscent of the famous fight scene from OldBoy but this film is certainly no OldBoy wannabe. Rather it's a hard as nails, stylish and engrossing film noir you'd be mad to miss - providing you have the stomach for it. |
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Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-ho - 2003)
This is one of the very best police procedurals to come out of South Korea (or anywhere else for that matter). Based on a true case this recounts the origins of serial killer investigation techniques as they were emerging in South Korea in 1986. Song Kang-ho stars as Park Doo-man - a seasoned detective drafted in to a rural town from Seoul to help in the investigation of the rape and murder of a young girl - the second of three related homicides as it turns out. The two detectives assigned the case are pretty clueless as to how to proceed, their forensic technology is basic at best and their strong-arm techniques are doing far more harm than good. Park tries with little success to convince the two loutish detectives that the two murders they're investigating are related and that more are on the way, and as he methodically pieces together small scraps of evidence they continue to threaten, beat and torture suspects with impunity. Song Kang-ho gives a terrific performance in this film, as the frustrated Detective Park. Director Bong Joon-ho - who would go on to direct the entertaining monster movie The Host, and more recently the excellent Mother keeps things moving at a brisk pace and does a great job of presenting a lot of information clearly, so the viewer's interest never flags. Memories of Murder reaches levels of emotional intensity rarely seen in films these days and could teach the CSI team a thing or two. |
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Oasis (Lee Chang-dong - 2002)
One of Lee Chang-dong's very best films, this tells the story of two young lovers, but this is definitely not your typical boy meets girl romance by any means. Sol Kyung-gu stars as Hong Jong-du - a slightly retarded young man just released from prison for manslaughter into the care of his family who would rather not deal with him. One of the first things he does on being released is visit the parents of his victim who unsurprisingly turn him away. However before he leaves he meets Han Gong-ju - their daughter who suffers from cerebral palsy. After a rocky (to say the least) first encounter the two spark up an unlikely romance. If you think this sounds cloyingly sentimental though you'd be dead wrong as the whole relationship between the barely articulate Jong-du and the mute Gong-ju is handled with real subtlety and understanding by Chang-dong. Couple this with fantastic performances from the two leads (special mention must go to young Moon So-ri whom I had no idea didn't suffer from cerebral palsy in real life until about halfway through the film - such is the authenticity of her performance). This is a film that's almost impossible not to be moved by, and one of the best romantic dramas to be found anywhere, at the same time giving a sometimes disturbing insight into how Korean society deals with its less able citizens. |
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Oldboy (Park Chan-wook - 2003)
Out of all the films to come out of South Korea this is the one that has seeped into the global consciousness more than any other. If people have only seen one Korean film there's a good chance it will be this one. Winner of the special jury prize at Cannes this is a spellbinding film, about a man locked up for he knows not what, only to be released fifteen years later for the purpose of discovering who incarcerated him and why. Reminiscent of 'The Count of Monte Cristo' this is the second in Park Chan Wook's 'Vengeance' trilogy starring the brilliant Choi Min-suk as the man on a mission to unearth his past, piece his life together and exact revenge upon the man who's taunting him with tantalising tidbits of information to inexorably discover the reason behind his punishment. There's a dreamlike quality to this film - which is by turns fascinating, mysterious, horrific and brutal. It's slick modern filmmaking of the highest order, helped in no small part by the magnificently weird performance by Choi. I was hooked early on and for the entire duration of this fascinating and mysterious journey which builds to an inevitable and horrifying climax. |
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On The Occasion of Remembering The Turning Gate (Hong Sang-soo - 2002)
There have been many great films produced in South Korea in the last fifteen years - some of which are listed on this very page, but there has been something of a dearth of auteurs. That is, a director who has a specific vision and style that is uniquely their own. Most of the popular films here are competently directed and often with lots of technical skill and style, but you never really get the feeling that these directors are going to end up with a body of work with an identifiable stamp on it in the way you do with someone like, say Woody Allen. Well, Hong Sang-soo is just such a director. He has a unique style among his contemporaries, and he's been flying under most peoples' radar since he directed his first film back in 1996. This, his fourth feature film, sees him hit his stride with a confident and often amusing take on the average person's sexual hangups, emotional disconnectedness and social awkwardness. It centres around a self-absorbed young man in his search for love. Stumbling from one awkward encounter to the next, hoping for some sort of emotional connection to present itself he more often than not causes pain or annoyance to those he comes into contact with. Most mention Eric Rohmer as an influence, as Hong is mining the same vein Rohmer did for most of his career, so if you're a fan of Rohmer you'd do well to see this and Hong's other films, though I'd say there is more humour in the average Hong film - especially this film - than Rohmer's, which tended to be more solemn affairs. For me, especially the older I get, there's nothing more fascinating than discovering what makes real people tick, and watching a Hong Sang-soo film feels like eavesdropping on real peoples' discussion, affairs and rendezvous. The acting is extremely naturalistic and although Hong likes to tinker with the structure of his films quite a bit, at heart he's simply trying to show people as they are, and he's doing it very effectively. |
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Peppermint Candy (Lee Chang-dong - 1999)
This is one of the very best examples of a small sub-genre of films which are told backwards, but you'd be hard pushed to find one more accomplished than this. The film starts with an emotionally distraught man committing suicide. The rest of the film is a series of short flashback scenes edging farther and farther back in time through his life to show us the events that led to his wanton despair at the world and those around him. We see the beatings he's dished out and the corruption he's been a part of, and the pain and misery he's inflicted on those he's come into contact with. Each successive scene packs more and more of an emotional punch as we see how the man has been corrupted over the years and we know ahead of time his ultimate fate. Lee once again shows his mastery of the form here as the action effortlessly switches back and forth in time. Everything about this production is of the highest standard. Lee sets the tone and atmosphere of each scene with a skilled eye. The cinematography is excellent, the pacing is superb and the central performance from Kim Yeo-jin is gut-wrenching. Yet another example of a film from South Korea that will leave you emotionally drained. Powerful stuff, but good luck trying to get a copy on DVD as it's been criminally overlooked in that regard. |
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Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring (Kim Ki-duk - 2003)
Very little dialogue, not too much of a story, only a few characters, subtitles. You might think that you'd be in for a tough time of it as far as staying awake and interested goes, but you'd be dead wrong and you'd be a fool not to take the chance and watch this stunning piece of cinema from seasoned director Kim Ki-duk. It looks at the life of a boy from the time he's taken in by an old monk in a temple floating on a lake, through his life under the monk's tutelage through many years as the boy grows older, through his rebellion to his abandoning of his calling to live in the city and then to his eventual return under suspicious circumstances to the temple many years later where he eventually assumes the mantle of wise old sage. This is a leisurely paced film shot with a painterly eye. The film is worth the price of admission simply for the breathtaking scenery and stunning cinematography alone, but it also has much to say about life, growing up and growing old, personal responsibility, and death. A meditative masterpiece if ever there was one. |
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