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)
Hwang Jung-min	...	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:
Seong-oh Kim	...	Oh Mu-sung's Subordinate
Tae-hee Kim
Oh Kwang-rok
Mu-yeong Lee
Domashchenko Vadym	...	Russian weapon smuggler

Storyline

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

---

Plot Keywords:

south korea | anti hero | arms dealer | arms deal | criminal underworld | 

---

Taglines:

When doing right goes very, very wrong.

---

Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The narration that opens and closes the film are Buddhist parables.

---

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.

---

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?"

---

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.

---

Connections

Remade as Awarapan (2007)

User Reviews

A truly excellent movie!

I had the opportunity to watch this brilliant movie at home, while translating it from English to Greek for the viewers of the Thessaloniki Film Festival in November, 2005.

I was impressed by the stunning performance of the leading actor, as well as of the other actors. The music of the film was also wisely selected.

Some -few- funny moments in the film help the viewer lighten up and get ready for what I saw as brilliantly directed fighting scenes, that neither bored me nor made me look away.

At the end of the film, when the desciple was crying for "a dream that can never come true" I was absolutely sure that what I saw was nothing less than a true work of art.

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