A Bittersweet Life (2005)

Things go wrong for a high ranking mobster when he doesn't proceed by his boss's orders.

Director:

Jee-woon Kim (as Kim Jee-woon)

Writers:

Dong-Cheol Kim (character created by: A Bittersweet Life), Jee-woon Kim (as Kim Jee-woon)

Stars:

Lee Byung-Hun, Shin Min-a, Yeong-cheol Kim

7 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Lee Byung-Hun	...	Sun-woo
Shin Min-a	...	Hee-soo
Yeong-cheol Kim	...	Mr. Kang (as Kim Young-Chul)
Jung-min Hwang	...	President Baek (as Jeong-min Hwang)
Roe-ha Kim	...	Mun-suk
Hae-gon Kim	...	Weapon smuggler
Eric Moon	...	Gun Dealer's Brother (as Eric)
Dal-su Oh	...	Myung-gu
Lee Gi-yeong	...	Mu-sung
Jin Goo	...	Min-gi
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yu-mi Jung	...	Mi-Ae
Seong-oh Kim	...	Oh Mu-sung's Subordinate
Tae-hee Kim
Oh Kwang-rok
Mu-yeong Lee

Storyline

Things go wrong for a high ranking mobster when he doesn't proceed by his boss's orders.

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Plot Keywords:

south korea | anti hero | gangster | crime boss | shootout | 

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Taglines:

When doing right goes very, very wrong.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Byung-Hun Lee and Ku Jin previously starred together in a show All In (2003). Ku Jin played the younger version of Byung-Hun's character.

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Goofs

Toward the end of the film, when Kim Sun-woo is walking down the corridor searching for his former boss, a guard sitting and reading a newspaper gets up to stop him. Kim Sun-woo shoots him but his gun is not pointed at the guard. Rather, it is clearly pointed at the wall where fake blood appears after the shot like a paint gun.

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Quotes

Mr. Kang: What has gotten into you? Don't do this, Sun-woo.
Sun-woo: [shoots Mr. Kang through the heart] "We can't turn back time can we?"

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Alternate Versions

Two versions of the film exist, the original theatrical version and the director's cut. The director's cut's edits include slight cutting and re-arrangement of scenes, swapping music placement and some additional scenes that do not appear in the original version of the film.

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Connections

References Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

User Reviews

A film of two halves but ultimately fails when it shouldn't have

Overall a good film and while it plays with the action and drama, the film has massive potential to be so much more. As my title suggests the film is essentially two different films, which begins brightly before fading fast. The first half effortlessly introduces our protagonist and the majority of the cast effortlessly. While stereotypes are put into play they all show something a little different and the plot at it's quietest plays out quite well and to a high standard expected of korean cinema. Yet as Sun Woo's life begins to break down after a costly mistake, the quality and drama quickly takes a backseat to the all too familiar genre of action and revenge. Yet it is disappointing how a country full of great examples and almost infamously associated with the revenge genre can fail so easily. As with many action films it weaves a lot of style at the expense of logic and only gets worse exponentially as guns are introduced and you have a stylish action film which could've been born out of western cinema that lacks the story telling quality it started with. Muddled with a untidy conclusion the film would've been better if the last hour was taken out and the last few minutes kept in

Details

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean Russian

Release Date:

1 April 2005 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

A Bittersweet Life

Filming Locations:

South Korea

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$10,080,094

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment, CJ E&M Film Financing & Investment Entertainment & Comics, B.O.M. Film Productions Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min 120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1