One of the hot ticket films at this years New York Asian Film Festival concerns a hot actor who no one will work with because he tends to actually beat up his co-stars in the fight scenes. While partying one night he meets a gangster who once was an actor and who roughs up him up when a request for an autograph turns insulting. Everyone goes back to their own lives until the actor once more beats up his co-star and they need to find a replacement. The actor thinks of the gangster and before you know it the pair have agreed to really go at it in the fight scenes. From there the film spins out as the actor tries to handle his personal life (women, blackmail) and the gangster tries to get his boss out of prison and stay alive while romancing the leading lady.
Well acted, especially by Ji Seob So as the gangster, Kang-pae, who manages to say so much without really doing anything.Its the sort of performance that will make him big in America if the film gets a big release. As for the rest,all I can say its an odd film. Despite being billed as one, this is a film that isn't really an action film. Sure the film has action, both the movie fights but also explosive violence from the gangsters doing their normal line of work(the sound of violence can be a sickening thing), but mostly this is a rambling tale of a couple of lost souls trying to find themselves. In someways I'm not sure what I make of it. Other than the plot thread of the making of the film, this film rambles around with in the lives of its characters in a directed but not particularly charted way. Its good, but at the same time its a bit too rambling since bits don't completely connect the way they should. Don't get me wrong I like the film, the final fight between the costars is bound to become iconic and Ji Seob So is absolutely amazing in I have little doubt he will become a new level of screen cool, but the film never manages to reach the great level. Its good, often very good, just not great despite its attempts.
Somewhere around 7 out of 10 I'm not sure why some people have been angling this as the next great film from Korea.
Well acted, especially by Ji Seob So as the gangster, Kang-pae, who manages to say so much without really doing anything.Its the sort of performance that will make him big in America if the film gets a big release. As for the rest,all I can say its an odd film. Despite being billed as one, this is a film that isn't really an action film. Sure the film has action, both the movie fights but also explosive violence from the gangsters doing their normal line of work(the sound of violence can be a sickening thing), but mostly this is a rambling tale of a couple of lost souls trying to find themselves. In someways I'm not sure what I make of it. Other than the plot thread of the making of the film, this film rambles around with in the lives of its characters in a directed but not particularly charted way. Its good, but at the same time its a bit too rambling since bits don't completely connect the way they should. Don't get me wrong I like the film, the final fight between the costars is bound to become iconic and Ji Seob So is absolutely amazing in I have little doubt he will become a new level of screen cool, but the film never manages to reach the great level. Its good, often very good, just not great despite its attempts.
Somewhere around 7 out of 10 I'm not sure why some people have been angling this as the next great film from Korea.