Fahim Akhter
This is how mafia films should be and how I love them. Since its Korean obviously a little raw,sharp Round the edges and leaves you with a sour taste in taste in your mouth. Along with the obligatory oh what did I just watch moment. Haven't seen such a fine mafia film for a while, while Hollywood tries to turn Mafia films in summer block busters Korea is still doing it right. The difference between a modern Hollywood thriller and Korean cinema is that you question yourself is he going to live, is he? And often you are (un) pleasantly surprised.The film follows a crime boss and his enforcer, who happens to be a man of honor in his own sense and not a big fan of well words. The film is a single story line but branches off, rivalry between different mafia houses, the chiefs girlfriend, the enforcer, love, revenge, a whole lot of kicking ass and broken bones. But simply put its a story about doing what's right and love, more importantly this still is a better love story than twilight. Not a lot of films in this genre leave a big smile on your face when they end this with its irony does.The other major difference would be feeling empathy, while Sundance and other festival showcase the hard hitting dramas of Hollywood, pick a Korean action film and it still would make you feel something.The cinematography is phenomenal it doesn't go crazy with color tones and doesn't care much about CGI its all really nicely thought out shots and well done stunts. There are some gorgeous frames that you don't see everyday and the way they show you something happening without explaining the whole thing or body is just beautiful.Bonus points for gangster film with no nudity and well there is gore lots of it, you don't like blood? This one isn't for you.The action is paced really nicely there are buildups and then serene moments. If raid is action films headliners done right this is raid without the red bull. Music is a bit of a let down but makes up for it with a great sound mix.This one definitely goes in my must watch list. Also won't watch it again list just because of the sheer intensity of the film.
jigmi59
usually i don't go for movies when i have college and work both in my hands, thats why when i first started on this movie(recommended by a friend) i was thinking "why am i wasting my time watching this?" After seeing this for while i realized that everything is going to get more interesting as the movie proceeded. The action literally took me out of my seat, I've seen a lot of action movies but this one had the simplicity and also the brutality of a fight when it happens in real life. Some movies you just see and realize its good and then you carry on with whatever you're gonna do next. But this movie got me thinking deep of how beautiful and innocent love is........a movie i would recommend to all who r always in search of good movies....
MalliMovieDon
I sat down to A Bittersweet Life wondering how long I would be able to watch it. Not being a big Korean film aficionado and having not watched a huge amount of subtitled films, I didn't know what I would make of this. It didn't take me long to realise I was watching something special...Gripping, clever, dramatic and sometimes funny (in a dark way) this film has clever action scenes, grit and more emotion than you could shake a stick at. From very early on you actually care about Kim Sun-Woo even though we don't find out all that much about him. His motives are always driven by events around him and conflict with everything he had ever experienced and that makes him vulnerable, even as he breaks more than a few bones.This film is right up there among the best I've ever seen and it sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it. Watch it if you love watching true class.
drpavlovic1411
When you see so many good reviews,you ask yourself: hmm...did we see the same movie????!!! 'The best Korean movie ever', 'fantastic'... It can be that I watched some other movie???!!This movie is totally predictable. From the start you know who will make the hell of life to our hero, you could see what kind of boss our hero has..., the task what he gets can be end up only in two ways... Everything has been seen so many times.I must admit that this movie is real,close to the real life,it is not that the main character can beat 1000 guys with one kick,but..., who knows, maybe with some more fantastic fight scenes the movie would be more interesting. This way, you can predict almost the whole movie. The ones who consider this is the best Korean movie ever..., they obviously haven't seen enough Korean movies and their excellent cinematography.The sum: a movie's goal is not to be totally unpredictable, always to give some new perspective, to have some great scenes..., but this one is nothing but a gangster cliché. To obey to your boss entirely, or not? It is so normal when somebody reaches the point when it is not so easy to obey 100%, the reason is not important. Even the punch line: How did we get to this point and why? is not so impressive, because every 'why' has its reason. So, this movie can be depicted as NOT ENOUGH of anything which is important for a good movie (it doesn't matter if we seek for a deep movie, a good action or some other kind of movie).
AD
