5. A Bittersweet Life
A Bittersweet Life was one of the first Korean films I ever watched. Since then I have somewhat become a fanatic of Korean cinema. Bittersweet life is a classic gangster film with crime, action and drama. However Bittersweet stands out from your typical gangster genre. It is the cinematography that creates such a beautiful atmosphere and it is a brilliant example of a gangster noir film. A high ranking mob enforcer Kim Sun-woo (Lee Byung-hun) works for a malicious crime boss Kang (Kim Yeong-cheol). His loyalty is unquestionable and every order that is given to Sun-Woo he follows without any hesitation. For years Sun-Woo has been Kangs loyalist which is why one day Kang gave Sun-Woo the unusual order to follow his girlfriend and attend to her needs. His real reason is that he is suspicious of her faithfulness. Being her personal chauffeur and eating lunch it all seems fine. Spending more time with her Sun-woo begins to fall in love with his bosses girlfriend. However he discovers that his bosses suspicions are right and she has been unfaithful. Now Sun-Woo's morals are tested, does he inform his boss or does he let them go? A Bittersweet Life starts off as a story of an enforcer with a conscience that has been betrayed by his own mob boss that leads to a rampage of revenge. It is undoubtedly a film that will stay in my mind forever. The choreography is beautifully brutal and captivating. The entire atmosphere is a brilliant visual combination of Paco Rabanne film noir style with Quentin Tarantino violence. The plot is a mixture of vengeance and a tragic tale of an enforcer who falls in love. Since its release from 2005 A Bittersweet Life still holds a 100% on rotten tomatoes and in 2009 Empire magazine named A Bittersweet Life third in a poll of the "20 Greatest Gangster Movies You've Never Seen. With its striking choreography and captivating narrative it is absolutely a film you should sit back and watch.