Bad Guy (2001)

One man's attempt to fill humane loneliness. But love is not for "scumbags".

Director:

Ki-duk Kim

Writer:

Ki-duk Kim

Stars:

Jae-Hyun Cho, Won Seo, Yun-tae Kim

4 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jae-Hyun Cho	...	Han-ki (as Jae-hyeon Jo)
Won Seo	...	Sun-hwa
Yun-tae Kim	...	Yun-tae
Duk-moon Choi	...	Myeong-su (as Duek-mun Choi)
Yoon-young Choi	...	Hyun-ja
Yoo-jin Shin	...	Min-jung
Jeong-yeong Kim	...	Eun-hye (as Jung-young Kim)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Min Namkoong	...	Hyun-su (as Gung-Min Nam)

Storyline

In busy downtown Seoul, a thuggish young man notices a fresh-faced college student who sits on a bench. He stares then sits next to her. She looks at him as if he's vermin, rises and walks to another bench. He sits staring. Her boyfriend arrives, she points to the stranger, the boyfriend shrugs and puts his arm around her to walk away. The stranger starts to leave as well, turns, goes to them, takes her face firmly in his hands and kisses her long and hard. The boyfriend tries unsuccessfully to break them apart, then soldiers beat the stranger. She demands an apology. He is silent. She slaps him and spits on him. They leave. The next day, he sets out to ruin her. How can this end?

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Plot Keywords:

sexual abuse | prostitution | bench | soldier | seoul | 

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Taglines:

Trapped in a world of pleasure and pain ...

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Rude Shape Productions [United States]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

11 February 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bad Guy

Filming Locations:

Seoul, South Korea

Company Credits

Production Co:

LJ Film,Prime Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Crazy Credits

The last shot shows a truck with an orange cover going down a road in the distance. When the end credits begin, the truck becomes a small orange square that remains on the screen for the entire duration of the end credits.

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Soundtracks

Blott En Dag
Performed by Carola

User Reviews

Extremely good film

This is an extremely good film - highly recommended. It will not be to everyone's taste, but if you are not afraid of thinking during a film then you should find plenty to take away from this one.

Bad Guy is a film based on the central premise of a relationship built between what is effectively a hostage-taker and his hostage. What transpires is a stream of abuses, power-shifts, emotional turmoil, love, hate, violence, sex, and almost every other aspect of life. This is an extremely original story, well told, with fascinating characters that are extremely human... both the good and bad sides of humanity.

The production values are very high, great acting, direction, cinematography, script, music, everything is top notch.

Typically, Korean films are very much based in real characters, social issues, and have an earthy approach that humanises their films beyond those of most countries. Bad Guy is no exception... while it is violent, confrontational, and decidedly dark, it bristles with underlying emotion and shows life without the rose coloured glasses.

The characters are at times extremely emotional, and at others almost entirely emotionally void as they struggle constantly to keep their balance in circumstances that are spiraling around them.

This is not an 'easy' film, in that it does not hand feed the viewer, there are no 'Jaws' style music queues to let you know when to be scared. You will need to work out how to feel for yourself with this one, which is fairly rare in this day and age.

As said earlier, this movie is not for everyone, however if the concept sounds like something that interests you, then you should enjoy this film. If on the other hand you don't like the idea of watching a film based on the idea of a man forcing a woman into a life of sexual servitude, then stay well away from this film.