When someone mentions stylish cinema, directors such as Tarantino, Kubrick and Scorsese come to mind. However, South Korea has been cultivating a new generation of film-maker and alongside the mighty Park Chan-Wook stands Kim Jee-Woon - a director that recently made a name for himself in the international market with 2003’s A Tale of Two Sisters. A Bittersweet Life is his foray into the gangster genre and it manages to redefine the meaning of the word style, by adding a whole new dimension of brutality and fashionable sophistication to the typical gangster flick.

Sun-Woo (Byung Hun-Lee) works as a merciless enforcer for underworld boss Kang. But however untouchable Kang (Yeong Cheol-Kim) may seem to be, he has been reached by a young woman named Hee-Soo (Min-A-Shin), who apparently he is very fond of. Kang confides in Sun-Woo and reveals his worries that Hee-Soo is seeing a younger man of her age, so he assigns Sun-Woo the job of spying on her whilst he is away on business and stresses that if he finds out she is cheating, then he must “do what needs to be done”. Sure enough, Sun-Woo discovers that Hee-Soo is indeed seeing another man but instead of carrying out his strict orders, he gives the girl a second chance. A second chance that Sun-Woo himself, will not get.

There were tight space restrictions on ABL’s set

A Bittersweet Life is a stunning portrayal of the criminal underworld, it possesses a vivid clarity that the majority of films can only dream of. The intricately crafted sets and explosive action would be almost too much take in alone, but thankfully a beautifully tempered performance by Byung Hun-Lee as Sun-Woo dictates the tone and pace of the film throughout. In terms of action there is a veritable host of martial arts and firearms play. Ranging from superficial glancing blows to crunching, bloody battles involving all sorts of weapons; ABL has no shortage of moments that will make you wince and when it’s Sun-Woo dishing out the pain it’s hard not to be impressed by his merciless execution skills and feel satisfied when he utilizes them to full effect.

Like most films ABL relies upon its the soundtrack to add another dimension of intensity to the action and rightly so; it borrows from a number of different musical genres to form an excellent accompaniment for the picture. In addition to the musical aspect of the picture, there were also plans to have a much more comprehensive voiceover track that would shed light on Sun-Woo’s thoughts throughout the film, however thankfully most of these sections were discarded in post-production, allowing us to constantly draw and develop our own conclusions on particular situations.

Is there supposed to be a lawn on the wall?

This DVD version has a few entertaining extras including a short documentary on how the film did at Cannes and a little featurette which shows the cast and crew to pitching questions to each other (in a somewhat awkward manner, but its entertaining nonetheless). Other than that, there are the usual original film trailers and a couple of teasers for other related films including Lady Vengeance and Battle Royale. It’s not exactly brimming with extra features, but what’s there is relatively good quality and will certainly add a little enjoyment to the whole ABL experience for people who wish to go down such avenues.

A Bittersweet Life is an excellent piece of modern cinema and the few negatives it may bear pale into insignificance alongside a mighty barrage of blood soaked positives. Kim Jee-Woon has created a gangster masterpiece which could easily hold it’s own against many of the classics, its slick approach is the kind of injection that the genre needed to get back on its feet and the impeccable performance delivered by Byung Hun-Lee is reminiscent of Al Pacino’s infamous roles (although he’s not quite matched the master yet). This film is a swift and powerful blow to the cranium that will leave action junkie’s everywhere, stunned.

Director: Kim Jee-Woon
Starring: Byung-hun Lee, Jeong-min Hwang, Yeong-cheol Kim, Min-a Shin, Ku Jin, Roe-ha Kim.
Year: 2005
Genre: Action/Crime
Buy: Amazon UK