A Bittersweet Life (2005)

One of the best films i have seen

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

It is a performances centric movie

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This spectacular movie came out nine years before John Wick, but because I am a westerner I saw J.W. and J.W.2 before this. After watching this masterpiece, I was compelled to write my first movie review. This movie is just as good as J.W. and in many ways similar to it, but it is something completely different at the same time. The movie is two hours long, but it didn't feel too lengthy or boring at all.Dalkomhan insaeng tells the story of a respected, talented, and merciless mafia enforcer named Sung-Woo whose devotion to martial arts is beyond ordinary mobsters. He seems like a person who is used to doing everything his boss tells him, but one job makes him hesitate, and the mafia goes after him.The way Sung-Woo's situation changes from being respected to hunted is expected yet perfectly subtle at the same time, and watching his character develop during the movie was rewarding. Every single character in the movie was believable and had a unique personality. The acting of all actors, both lead and support, was spot on.What really made this movie a perfect 10 for me was how basically everything is shown. Just like in John Wick, the action scenes are filmed with steady cameras so the viewer can appreciate the choreography of the combat. And even so, there is still something even more visceral, gritty, and violent about this movie that I haven't seen before in cinema. Sure, there are super violent movies out there, but the violence in Dalkomhan insaeng didn't have a single sign of over-the-topness. We get to see dead bodies laying still in a growing pool of blood, stabbing, smashing, bullet hits and blood pulsating through bullet holes via the now rare medium of a still movie camera frame that truly lets the viewer see what's going on.The movie had a few implausible events regarding main character Sung- Woo's abilities, fitness, and pain tolerance, but this movie definitely ranks closer to 10 than 9.5 in my books. After all, it is obvious from the start that Sung-Woo is not an ordinary guy. Also, the soundtrack was nice, different, and refreshing.

yes, how! how can this man, Kim Jee-Wong be the same man who made The Last stand?I wish I would have discovered it sooner, my goodness, better later than never right? I became a huge fan of Lee Byung Hun only recently, not only because of his martial art skills, certainly because of his amazing acting skills, this guy is absolutely great in any part he play;I was looking for something else than Terminator, aha-ha.. and found ''I saw the Devil'' which for me is, from now on, a masterpiece, then I look forward and finally get ''Bitter Sweet life''. It's better in so many ways than any American action flick, a total blast, Well, i've discovered Korean cinema, in the best way i suppose

Asked by his boss to shadow his mistress, a youthful mobster makes the mistake of falling in love with the young woman and has to suffer the consequences of not reporting her infidelity in this South Korean crime drama. The film has been described as a revenge thriller by many, but the narrative curiously does not adopt such a format until nearly halfway in with the majority of the first half of the movie dedicated to the mobster growing increasingly fixated with the young lady he is tracking. The film arguably spends too much time on this build-up for its own good, but director Kim Jee-woon does an excellent job depicting the protagonist's growing infatuation. In the first scene together, for example, we are treated to cutaways that fetishise her feet, legs, ears, nose and mouth at various points. Lee Byung-hun is also superb throughout as the infatuated mobster; confident in his enforcer job, but shy and uncertain around women. The film never quite answers what he expected to result from not reporting the infidelity. Is what the boss does to him (upon discovering the betrayal) really all that unexpected? Lee still manages to come across as an oddly sympathetic young man though and he has some great moments towards the end, waxing poetic about dreams that cannot come true. The best part of the film though is the entire final hour, which plays out as a non-stop adrenaline ride. Some of the action is a little over-the-top, but it is not without purpose as the whole second half represents a swelling of emotions in the protagonist's heart and mind.

As a big fan of the current South Korean cinema who has seen the amazing vengeance thriller "I Saw The Devil", I was excited to watch an earlier collaboration of director Kim Jee-Woon and actor Lee Byung-Hun in this movie that got internationally known as "A Bittersweet Life". This movie is definitely completely different from the recent masterpiece they have created together and also from "The Good, The Bad, The Weird". This movie is rather influenced by Japanese Yakuza flicks and portrays an enforcer and manager that has faithfully served his brutal boss for seven long years. This man is suddenly led by his emotions when he gets the task to keep an eye on his boss' new young girlfriend during his absence. The loyal man falls for the charming, naive and vivid young woman and doesn't contact his boss when he discovers that his boss' doubts were right and that his new girlfriend was cheating on him and meeting another guy with whom she wants to leave the city. When the boss comes back home, he soon discovers that something is wrong and gets to the conclusion that his faithful right arm betrayed him. He wants to punish him but the manager gets away with his life and takes revenge.What seems intriguing as a story line at first sight turns out to be quite redundant. First of all, there is no chemistry at all between the manager and his boss' girlfriend and it's hard to believe that he risks everything he has done and become for a beautiful doll and her imprudent boyfriend.Second, there is a second story line that centres around a conflict between the main actor and a mafia gang that spreads some trouble in his hotel that soon gets quite personal. This side story is also about betrayal and loyalty and is quite interesting but the two stories feel somewhat unfinished and simply don't glue together. It is as if you were watching two different movies from time to time and this doesn't help the film to improve.Third, the middle part of the story is way too long without explaining the important details. For example, we never really get to know what finally happens to the boss' unfaithful girlfriend or her young lover.Fourth, there are too many pseudo-philosophical dialogues that create many lengths and from time to time, we even get some completely misplaced slapstick humour. For example, the whole story line around the weapon deal with the Russian mafia is just silly.Fifth, the vengeance chapter only takes a few minutes and doesn't impress with much action, gripping tension or some brutality. Instead, emotionally driven dialogues are put in between fighting sequences and slow the flow. The main character suddenly gets quite tender in between all the shooting scenes which feels unreal and weird.Each time, you expect something gripping to happen, it just doesn't. There are some appetizers and promising turnings now and then but the rhythm always quickly slows down. The movie has many ups and downs and is ultimately too long and a little bit hard to sit through. Something really gripping, surprising or twisted as in a Takashi Miike movie is definitely missing here. The acting is only of an average quality and the story more or less predictable. Only a couple of vivid passages and the good job of some supporting actors made this flick at least watchable and enjoyable from time to time but I have really expected more. In the end, I wouldn't recommend to watch this kind of overlong and emotionally shattered mafia thriller.