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:

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

7 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Byung-Hun Lee	...	Sun-woo
Min-a Shin	...	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
Gi-yeong Lee	...	Mu-sung
Goo Jin	...	Min-gi
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yu-mi Jung	...	Mi-Ae
Tae-hee Kim
Mu-yeong Lee
Kwang-rok Oh
Domashchenko Vadym	...	Russian weapon smuggler

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 | hotel | business | imagination | driving at night | 

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Taglines:

When doing right goes very, very wrong.

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean Russian

Release Date:

1 April 2005 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

A Bittersweet Life

Filming Locations:

South Korea

Company Credits

Production Co:

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

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In some alternate posters Byung hun Lee is shown smoking. But, in movie he never smoke.

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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: Let's not make a fuss.
Sun-woo: This is my last place. I have nowhere else to go.
Mr. Kang: Do you really want to take this too far?
Sun-woo: [Ignores his question, rebukes] Why would you do this to me, Mr. Kang?
Mr. Kang: Because you did not follow my orders.
Sun-woo: No, none of that stuff. Tell me the real reason why. Were you really trying to kill me? Do you know how long I have worked for you? Like a dog, I have served you for 7 years! Why? Tell me anything. Anything. Tell me!
[shoots Mr. Kang]

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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 La Dolce Vita (1960)

User Reviews

Another breathtaking revenge movie from South-Korea

I had the luck to watch this gem at the Fantasy-Film-Festival in Frankfurt yesterday. It was shown in a theater with about 600 seats and against my expectations the room was packed with people.

In comparison with Oldboy or Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance the story is not as deep and goes more straightforward to the pure revenge theme. But this does not make the movie less enjoyable. The cinematography is brilliant and the main-character delivers a great performance. It contains beautifully choreographed martial-arts and gunfight scenes with references to masterpieces like Taxi Driver and Kill Bill.

Despite the fact it is very harsh in some scenes the humor does not come to short. The scene with a discussion of Korean-Russian wannabe-gangsters made me nearly wet my pants.