Korean films have come a long way, evolving faster than any other industry in the world with quality
and unique films. Coming from a director known for his offbeat films with sincere inclination towards action, violence and revenge, ‘A Bittersweet Life’ by Jee-Woon Kim is a film about life’s lessons. A lesson that clarifies, in life, irrespective of who you are, good or bad, you’re sure have to moments that are sweet and bitter in nature. These moments when put together become ‘A Bittersweet Life’.
Kim Sun-Woo is an enforcer working for the most cold, ruthless, calculating crime boss in the city. This crime boss has bestowed all his trust upon Kim Sun-Woo and considers him a loyal disciple. One fine afternoon, Kim Sun-Woo is summoned by his boss and instructed over lunch that he’s to take on an assignment. An assignment that should be kept very secretive and the developments in it should directly reach the boss at regular intervals. The boss is romantically involved with a woman who’s younger than half his age.
He loves her genuinely however feels she may be cheating on him. He appoints Kim Sun-Woo to investigate and tells him to finish her off if caught red handed. Unfortunately, at first sight, Kim Sun-Woo falls for the boss’s girlfriend and also uncovers that she’s been cheating. However, he doesn’t have the guts to pull the trigger on her therefore lets her go off the leash. When the boss discovers, Kim becomes the immediate target. With boss’s entourage on his trail, Kim should run for his life but should return sooner or later to give his piece of mind back to people who betrayed him.
Korean films love to glorify violence like no other industry in the world. This is the Kind of violence
that’ll make you love violence. I mean it! The best part is Koreans love to fight with swords, knives, sickles, machetes, hammers but not guns. So, it’s gruesome to see them chopping each other in the name of revenge. I suppose their idea of carrying these instruments instead of guns is to inflict as much pain as possible. Think about it and you’d be surprised that instead of putting a bullet in someone’s head, take a knife or something and start slashing them and the sadistic pleasure you get out of it is priceless, according to these Koreans. It’s not just this film, take any recent Korean film and you have it – ‘Memories of a Murder’, ‘The Chaser’, ‘Oldboy’, all these films have glorified violence with the use of hands or instruments as discussed above.
Beside its extra violent connotation, ABL brilliantly teaches its audience a lesion that can be cherished for a lifetime. In life, there are moments that are good, bad and bitter; it’s the mixture of these moments which completes life and gives it a meaning. Kim’s life had its share of sweet and bitter moments however he chose to let go off the former and take control of the latter. The time spent with his boss’s daughter are his sweetest moments while the repercussion it left upon his life turned all the sweet in to bitter moments, eventually, only giving him grief to live with.
Performances were outstanding and there’s hardly anything to complain. Stunts deserve a special mention and the credit goes to Doo-Hong Jung for keeping stunts top class and highly professional. Original music by Dalparan and Yeong-Gyu Jang was good and I personally liked the score towards the end when the hero is struggling to breathe, he reminisces moments with the boss’s girlfriend.
In short, ‘A Bittersweet Life’ leaves you with one thought to ponder over. Life gives you good and bad but it’s your ability to choose wisely instead of dwelling on one.
