A BITTERSWEET LIFE

Korea, 2005, 120 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Kim Jee-woon.

The title of this powerful Korean gangster drama is somewhat misleading. There is no sweetness. It is all bitter.

Kim Jee-woon is one of those directors, along with Chan-wook Park, who have made something of an art form out of vengeance tragedies for Korean cinema. It is often disconcerting while watching films like this to realise that one is very impressed by the craft, energy and passion that has gone into the making of the film while appalled at the behaviour, especially the violence and bloodshed, that is up there on the screen. Obviously, revenge tragedies are not for those of squeamish sensitivities.

The enigmatic hero whose life is bittersweet is a very dapper young man who is proud of his security job in a hotel owned by his gangster-patron. Well-mannered, elegant but whose expressions give very little away, he can suddenly burst into martial arts violence when wanting to control a situation. He sees himself as cultured and far superior to other henchmen and thugs.

He would tell you, were you to ask, that he has no flaws. He is the completely loyal employee. When asked to intervene in the boss’s girlfriend’s affair, he lets them go, not thinking that there would be major repercussions. There are. He falls foul of his boss’s resentment that he did not obey him to the letter. He falls foul of the other thugs. He falls foul of the rival gang and their security guards. Mayhem ensues – which is a polite way of saying that all hell breaks loose for him and he replies in kind. He slaughters most of those who pursue him, using wits and skills and a minor armoury. But he continues bewildered as to why the boss is doing this to him.

The ending is bitter, not sweet, taking its cue from the endings of the revenge tragedies of Jacobean theatre. And, what is the audience left with? Vicarious thrills at the violence? Or a lesson in the futility of violence?