A Bittersweet Life
Director: Kim Jee-woon
2005 / 119min / 4K DCP
A mob enforcer (Lee Byung-hun, No Other Choice) with a sterling record of loyal service finds himself fighting for his life after sparing the life of his boss’s straying mistress (Shin Min-a) in Kim’s drum-tight neo-noir thriller, unusually grounded by both emotional stakes and a sense of real physical danger in the action set pieces, choreographed for the widescreen with much panache. Jang’s second collaboration with Kim, after The Foul King, earned him and collaborator (and Peach Present collective bandmate) Dalparan Best Music honors from the Busan Film Critics Association, responding to the composers’ sophisticated melange of samba, flamenco, solo cello, and electronic elements.
Distributor: NEON
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