The protagonist, Lee Kang-do, is a loner working as an enforcer who collects dues for a loan shark from meek borrowers. He is incredibly ruthless and cruel in collecting his dues and appears to have no compunction whatsoever towards the plight of his several hapless victims who are at the receiving end of his severe punishments when they fail to pay up.
One day, a middle-aged woman enters his life claiming to be his mother who had abandoned him some thirty years ago. Despite several (some very disturbing) attempts by him to shake her off, she stubbornly & resolutely sticks around till she wins him over.
He becomes a changed man as her maternal love (which he'd yearned for all his life) transforms his cold, cruel & ruthless persona to someone who could be loving, sensitive and even compassionate. The rest of the movie is the effect of this transformation on his life which I wouldn't want to elaborate for it would providing spoilers..
Halfway through the movie, a visibly confounded Lee raises a question "What is money ?" She replies that "It is the beginning and the end of all things: love, honour, violence, fury, hatred, jealousy, revenge, death."
Acted competently by both the leads, this is a remarkable movie on crime & punishment at their cruelest.. In equal measures, grim, violent & deeply disturbing (definitely not for the faint of heart - Compliance, may feel like The Lion King), this movie is also an effective study of the human psyche and remains with you long after you've watched it.
One day, a middle-aged woman enters his life claiming to be his mother who had abandoned him some thirty years ago. Despite several (some very disturbing) attempts by him to shake her off, she stubbornly & resolutely sticks around till she wins him over.
He becomes a changed man as her maternal love (which he'd yearned for all his life) transforms his cold, cruel & ruthless persona to someone who could be loving, sensitive and even compassionate. The rest of the movie is the effect of this transformation on his life which I wouldn't want to elaborate for it would providing spoilers..
Halfway through the movie, a visibly confounded Lee raises a question "What is money ?" She replies that "It is the beginning and the end of all things: love, honour, violence, fury, hatred, jealousy, revenge, death."
Acted competently by both the leads, this is a remarkable movie on crime & punishment at their cruelest.. In equal measures, grim, violent & deeply disturbing (definitely not for the faint of heart - Compliance, may feel like The Lion King), this movie is also an effective study of the human psyche and remains with you long after you've watched it.