Jukgeona hokeun nabbeugeona (2000)

Director:

Seung-wan Ryoo

Writer:

Seung-wan Ryoo (writer)

Release Date:

15 July 2000 (South Korea)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

"Die Bad" is an inventive feature made up of four distinct episodes, each with their own style. With their criss-crossing characters and themes...

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Seong-bin Park
Seung-beom Ryu	...	Sung-bin
Jung-shik Bae
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ju-bong Gi
Jae-yeong Jeong		(as Ji-hyeon Jeong)
Won-hie Lim
Seung-wan Ryoo

Also Known As:

Die Bad (International: English title)

Runtime:

95 min | South Korea:98 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

English | Korean

Color:

Color

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Hong Kong:III

Company:

CNP Entertainment

Movie Connections:

Remade as Die Bad (2011)

Tales of brutal violence, roughly hewn, but ambitiously constructed

Die Bad is the initial feature by writer-director Ryu Seungwan, whose work is frequently compared to Tarantino. And these are apt comparisons and both find their inspirations from similar films and sometimes share approaches and in this film, Ryu certainly deserves the comparison. However, this violent film is certainly a different beast than an Tarantino film, being far more serious in tone and much less interested in being cool.

The film is essentially composed of four sequentially connected shorts. The first, "Rumble" observes a batch of youth in a billiard house, whose hot-headedness drives them into a brawl. This is intercut with a faux-documentary interview with the owner of the store, who complains about the state of society's youth. The second, "Nightmare" follows one the youths as he is released from prison and suffers from psychological trauma related to the incident as well as trouble gaining societal acceptance due to his ex-con status. The third, "Modern Man" follows the physical confrontation because another youth from the billiard house brawl, who has since become a cop, and a gangster who's connected with the youth from "Nightmare". The extended fight sequence is intercut with interviews with both combatants, speaking about their place in society. The final segment, entitled "Die Bad" follows the youth from "Nightmare" as he ascends in crime with the gangster from "Modern Man" out of the way. In addition, we follow the cop from "Modern Man"'s disaffected younger brother, as he tries to make sense of his life in fits of violence.

The writing of the story doesn't follow the traditional movie narrative. Although the segments appear to be separate, they are most certainly pieces of a whole. The individual stories are interesting, but together, they are a compelling expression of the violence that comes from and subjugates these men and the society that locks them into such violence. The use of the interviews in the first and the third segments is surprisingly effective, breaking up the sequence of action, effectively building up the tension in the first segment and in the third segment serving as the primary point of interest as we watch the cop fight the robber. The second segment does a great job of building reason for a young man's descent into crime and the fourth completes the story about how the cycle of violence locks and brings misfortune to those who accept it early on and those around them.

In terms of direction, Ryu is superb, drawing solid performances from even some of the more obviously younger actors in the film. While some scenes are still a little roughly photographed (especially in the first segment), by the end of the film, Ryu displays a remarkable understanding of photographing kinetics. One downside to the production is that the values are obviously that of a shoestring budget, being shot in what appears to be 16mm and consequently, the film is heavily grainy and rough. However, towards the end, it adds to the charm of the film as it goes into black and white and Ryu learns to work well with the aesthetic.

Regardless of the low production values, the film is quite impressive as to tell a compelling story about violence, while incorporating the freedom of using non-traditional narrative techniques, such as the faux-interviews. Ryu clearly seemed willing to experiment and for the most part, the experimentation was a success. With great building of tension and keen eye towards atmosphere, Die Bad builds a bone-crunching action film that doesn't glorify the violence therein, but criticizes it. The assaults are brutal, even if stylized. And when the final reel rolls, you're left with the distinct feeling that you've seen something truly different. For this, I have to recommend Die Bad, despite its low production values. Excellent. 9/10.