Friend This is the course of friendship over a twenty year period. Beginning in 1975 we watch as four friends spend some time on what appears to be a summer vacation. Their future looks bright. A few years on as school and life takes its toll the dynamic between them changes and re-changes again as the have to deal with growing up, shattered dreams, decent into crime and drugs and the friendship itself. This is a dark little film that reminded me of some of the work of Martin Scorsese. Life often beats on these guys, from cruelty from their teachers to murder making it hard to get by. The course of these boys lives is not clear nor does it always turn out how we, or they think it will. The cast is excellent from top to bottom. Definitely worth seeking out, though be warned some of the violence has a tough edge to it.
32 Reviews
Story of the life of four children/men
esteban174719 September 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Very real, wonderful, excellent. The film reflects the lives of four children who later each took different ways of living, ethics standards and habits. Why each of them was different later in his life? One cannot explain easily. Two of them became Mafia men, being one more generous than the other, and the other two went to live modestly but clean at all. One of them became even a scientist. The end is tragic and difficult to explain, but life is as this, nothing goes with logic, many things have no explanation, and this is the case, why one Mafia loving the other Mafia as former classmate and buddy, ordered his subordinates to kill him? it is again difficult to explain, perhaps he loved him too much. This is not a slow film, but it goes differently if compared to American films.
Friends do not have to be sorry.
Meganeguard2 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Friend opens with an idyllic scene in which several children are seen chasing a truck spraying water; I think it is water at least, on a hot summer day. With peaceful music playing in the background it feels as if the film is in the same nostalgic realm as Rob Reiner's Stand By Me. This feeling is given even more of a jolt when the viewer is introduced to four young protagonists: Sang-taek, Joon-suk, Dong-su, and Joong-ho. Although from vastly different backgrounds, Sang-taek is upper-middle-class; Dong-su's father is a mortician; Joon-suk's father is a gangster, etc., the boys form a strong friendship and spend their days swimming, asking each other outlandish questions, buying "menstruation" pictures, menstruation being the word used by adults for female genitalia, and watching porn.
The friends are split up when they enter junior high school, but are reunited in high school. Enduring such individuals as their English teacher who not canes students on their bare feet when they cannot answer questions correctly but who also slaps and punches them, the boys feel the pangs of first love, Joong-ho for the keyboardist of the all girl band Rainbow and Dong-su and Sang-taek for Rainbow's lead singer Jin-sook. However, it is at this point a small breach forms in the relationship between Dong-su and Joon-suk. Joon-suk arranges for Sang-taek to go to a private room with Jin-sook while Dong-su is left out in the cold. After Dong-su asks Joon-suk if he is nothing more than a henchman, Joon-suk fails to give an answer.
After a major fight in a movie theater which pitted the four friends against what seemed to be an entire school, the gang of four is split and Joon-suk and Dong-su entrench themselves deeper into the criminal underworld while Sang-taek and Joong-ho pursue their own goals. Sang-taek and Joong-ho meet Joon-suk a few years later, but the once hard-as-nails gang leader has been reduced to a drug-addled wreck. However, after yet another long duration of time, the friends meet again and Joon-suk is at the top of his game. Dong-su is also at the top of his game as well as the second in a rival gang.
Threaded thickly with nostalgia, Friend will move anyone who reminisces about childhood friends. Although from completely different backgrounds, the friendship between Sang-taek and Joon-suk radiates deeply. Joon-suk's protective nature is almost frightening because of his almost dual personality of ruthless brute and a caring friend. While filled with violence and blood, in my humble opinion, the comedic interactions between the four men truly make Friend a good, if not outstanding, movie.
The friends are split up when they enter junior high school, but are reunited in high school. Enduring such individuals as their English teacher who not canes students on their bare feet when they cannot answer questions correctly but who also slaps and punches them, the boys feel the pangs of first love, Joong-ho for the keyboardist of the all girl band Rainbow and Dong-su and Sang-taek for Rainbow's lead singer Jin-sook. However, it is at this point a small breach forms in the relationship between Dong-su and Joon-suk. Joon-suk arranges for Sang-taek to go to a private room with Jin-sook while Dong-su is left out in the cold. After Dong-su asks Joon-suk if he is nothing more than a henchman, Joon-suk fails to give an answer.
After a major fight in a movie theater which pitted the four friends against what seemed to be an entire school, the gang of four is split and Joon-suk and Dong-su entrench themselves deeper into the criminal underworld while Sang-taek and Joong-ho pursue their own goals. Sang-taek and Joong-ho meet Joon-suk a few years later, but the once hard-as-nails gang leader has been reduced to a drug-addled wreck. However, after yet another long duration of time, the friends meet again and Joon-suk is at the top of his game. Dong-su is also at the top of his game as well as the second in a rival gang.
Threaded thickly with nostalgia, Friend will move anyone who reminisces about childhood friends. Although from completely different backgrounds, the friendship between Sang-taek and Joon-suk radiates deeply. Joon-suk's protective nature is almost frightening because of his almost dual personality of ruthless brute and a caring friend. While filled with violence and blood, in my humble opinion, the comedic interactions between the four men truly make Friend a good, if not outstanding, movie.
Right up there with The Godfather, but I liked it better
Simon_Bocanegra9 November 2004
Warning: Spoilers
I am surprised and encouraged by the quality films I've seen out of Korea. Chingoo is a touching first-person story about 4 boyhood friends and the way their lives unfold from carefree boyish cluelessness to the inevitable.
There are flashy, chaotic,violent films like Pulp Fiction which become instant cult classics because they are not chaotic at all, but crafted immaculately. But the characters in Pulp Fiction are just that- unreal, comic-book lowlives who inadvertently display a few human characteristics while going about their destructive, pulp-fiction lives.
Chingoo comes from the other direction, although it too is crafted superbly. No flash. Instead of the cool junkie Vincent portrayed by John Travolta, Joon-suk ably evokes a glimpse of the personal hellworld of addiction...and later wryly comments that he found the will to clean up after he saw he was losing ground in the gangster corporate hierarchy. Very much the CEO material. Yes, he coulda been a corporate contendah .and 500 years earlier he would have been the Korean equivalent of a Samurai daimyo if only..
These are real human characters growing up in a society that is rigidly disciplined, yet dynamic- and their paths take them literally on an escalator of fate to adulthood with just a whimsical struggle of will by Joon-suk, the protagonist, the main toughguy. He evokes the late Lee Strasberg's famous line from The Godfather, "These are the lives we've chosen," in the stolidity with which he accepts the horror of being a gangster. But he's a better man than the Godfather or the Pacino Godfather. He shows loyalty goes both ways.
Thirty minutes after Pulp Fiction, you're hungry- in fact, there's no story to digest at all. It's a fairytale as it intends. Chingoo sticks to your ribs (spoiler pun) by building real characters and taking real themes and hinting at issues that torment great men. Unfortunately, the film is true to the clime, and there are no great women characters. I suppose that's true of the Godfather too. Gangsters just aren't chick-flick material.
Chingoo delivers a supposedly autobiographical story by the director which tells me yet again that life is stranger, realer, better than pulp fiction. Well worth viewing.
There are flashy, chaotic,violent films like Pulp Fiction which become instant cult classics because they are not chaotic at all, but crafted immaculately. But the characters in Pulp Fiction are just that- unreal, comic-book lowlives who inadvertently display a few human characteristics while going about their destructive, pulp-fiction lives.
Chingoo comes from the other direction, although it too is crafted superbly. No flash. Instead of the cool junkie Vincent portrayed by John Travolta, Joon-suk ably evokes a glimpse of the personal hellworld of addiction...and later wryly comments that he found the will to clean up after he saw he was losing ground in the gangster corporate hierarchy. Very much the CEO material. Yes, he coulda been a corporate contendah .and 500 years earlier he would have been the Korean equivalent of a Samurai daimyo if only..
These are real human characters growing up in a society that is rigidly disciplined, yet dynamic- and their paths take them literally on an escalator of fate to adulthood with just a whimsical struggle of will by Joon-suk, the protagonist, the main toughguy. He evokes the late Lee Strasberg's famous line from The Godfather, "These are the lives we've chosen," in the stolidity with which he accepts the horror of being a gangster. But he's a better man than the Godfather or the Pacino Godfather. He shows loyalty goes both ways.
Thirty minutes after Pulp Fiction, you're hungry- in fact, there's no story to digest at all. It's a fairytale as it intends. Chingoo sticks to your ribs (spoiler pun) by building real characters and taking real themes and hinting at issues that torment great men. Unfortunately, the film is true to the clime, and there are no great women characters. I suppose that's true of the Godfather too. Gangsters just aren't chick-flick material.
Chingoo delivers a supposedly autobiographical story by the director which tells me yet again that life is stranger, realer, better than pulp fiction. Well worth viewing.
Sometimes this works
markbeardslee2 December 2005
When director Kwak Kyung Taek works portions of this film as period pieces, the results are nothing short of spectacular beauty. Scenes depicting 1976 and 1981 alone are worth the price of this film.
Sadly, the broader story of friendship gone awry is bogged down by clichés and melodrama and stereotypical gangster character faux angst. The plot is incidental to the message that Kwak tries to convey with this film: pure and innocent youthful friendship can be undone by the broader, but ultimately less important, adult world concerns of lust, greed and power. Indeed, the plot has been so often done that there is no need to relate it in this review. Suffice it to say that two young friends become, as adults, underworld gangster rivals in Pusan, South Korea, with plenty of that old stand-by, bloodshed, thrown in.
The beauty of "Friend" starts when two friends, Joon Suk and Dong Su, along with two other friends who don't become gangsters, try to examine sex as kids. In an amusing scene, the group confuses the word "menstruation" with "vagina." This leads to some hilarity for viewers later as the sex-crazed kids go about typical early teenage shenanigans.
Similarly, much later in the film, a precious scene unfolds when one of the non-gangsters visits the lair of one of his gangster friends and, while engaging in friendly banter, asks him why he, as a gangster, speaks of philosophy when he is but a "hoodlum." The gangster's henchmen get itchy (a la "The Godfather") and the gangster, instead of killing or torturing his friend, humiliates his own henchmen for overreacting by placing them in compromising positions in a car trunk. "How dare you suspect my friend and guest," he spits at his erstwhile protectors.
Such portrayals of true friendship predominate until the last quarter of the film when the rivalry between the two former friends, the gangsters, erupts into stereotypical over-the-top violence reminiscent of DePalma and Pacino. And while these latter scenes are apparently meant to provide the purpose and meaning of "Friend," they come off as clichéd shoot-em-ups, filled with ho-hum dialogue and predictably "tense" scenes that come up disappointing.
Still, Kwak displays instances of brilliance, such as when he portrays the rebellious underworld of South Korea in 1981 under Chun Doo Hwan's military dictatorship. Women smoking cigarettes was taboo even when I visited the country more than a decade later. Kwak is able to depict subtle scenes of rebellion in a subtle manner, and these are the gems of the film that resonate: A stunning performance by a female rock band. A running away scene with Robert Palmer's "Bad Case of Loving You" blaring in the soundtrack. A "West Side Story" type brawl in a theater while a government propaganda newsreel runs in the background. Shades of "Quadrophenia" and "Romper Stomper" prevail throughout the early half of the film, and when they do, its scenes are effectively cut with enough humorous interludes that a viewer does not want the film to progress into the "epic saga" that it eventually tries, with limited success, to become.
Former friends Joon Suk and Dong Su become reluctant adversaries and Kwak attempts to use this setting as a vehicle for a commentary on friendship. It works if your idea of friendship is apologizing to your best friend as he dies at your hand, or if confessing to that murder to face a certain death penalty qualifies as redemption. After a lot of violence and prison-cell soul-searching, the film concludes with a sentimental look back at the halcyon days of the friendly boys' respective childhoods. In this reviewer's opinion, it doesn't work. What does work is Kwak's initial representation of the boys' coming of age. If he had stayed there, this film could have been a lovely revelry in the ridiculous and absurd world of happily ignorant boyhood.
Instead, Kwak tries for a home run when all the friends really need is a base hit.
Sadly, the broader story of friendship gone awry is bogged down by clichés and melodrama and stereotypical gangster character faux angst. The plot is incidental to the message that Kwak tries to convey with this film: pure and innocent youthful friendship can be undone by the broader, but ultimately less important, adult world concerns of lust, greed and power. Indeed, the plot has been so often done that there is no need to relate it in this review. Suffice it to say that two young friends become, as adults, underworld gangster rivals in Pusan, South Korea, with plenty of that old stand-by, bloodshed, thrown in.
The beauty of "Friend" starts when two friends, Joon Suk and Dong Su, along with two other friends who don't become gangsters, try to examine sex as kids. In an amusing scene, the group confuses the word "menstruation" with "vagina." This leads to some hilarity for viewers later as the sex-crazed kids go about typical early teenage shenanigans.
Similarly, much later in the film, a precious scene unfolds when one of the non-gangsters visits the lair of one of his gangster friends and, while engaging in friendly banter, asks him why he, as a gangster, speaks of philosophy when he is but a "hoodlum." The gangster's henchmen get itchy (a la "The Godfather") and the gangster, instead of killing or torturing his friend, humiliates his own henchmen for overreacting by placing them in compromising positions in a car trunk. "How dare you suspect my friend and guest," he spits at his erstwhile protectors.
Such portrayals of true friendship predominate until the last quarter of the film when the rivalry between the two former friends, the gangsters, erupts into stereotypical over-the-top violence reminiscent of DePalma and Pacino. And while these latter scenes are apparently meant to provide the purpose and meaning of "Friend," they come off as clichéd shoot-em-ups, filled with ho-hum dialogue and predictably "tense" scenes that come up disappointing.
Still, Kwak displays instances of brilliance, such as when he portrays the rebellious underworld of South Korea in 1981 under Chun Doo Hwan's military dictatorship. Women smoking cigarettes was taboo even when I visited the country more than a decade later. Kwak is able to depict subtle scenes of rebellion in a subtle manner, and these are the gems of the film that resonate: A stunning performance by a female rock band. A running away scene with Robert Palmer's "Bad Case of Loving You" blaring in the soundtrack. A "West Side Story" type brawl in a theater while a government propaganda newsreel runs in the background. Shades of "Quadrophenia" and "Romper Stomper" prevail throughout the early half of the film, and when they do, its scenes are effectively cut with enough humorous interludes that a viewer does not want the film to progress into the "epic saga" that it eventually tries, with limited success, to become.
Former friends Joon Suk and Dong Su become reluctant adversaries and Kwak attempts to use this setting as a vehicle for a commentary on friendship. It works if your idea of friendship is apologizing to your best friend as he dies at your hand, or if confessing to that murder to face a certain death penalty qualifies as redemption. After a lot of violence and prison-cell soul-searching, the film concludes with a sentimental look back at the halcyon days of the friendly boys' respective childhoods. In this reviewer's opinion, it doesn't work. What does work is Kwak's initial representation of the boys' coming of age. If he had stayed there, this film could have been a lovely revelry in the ridiculous and absurd world of happily ignorant boyhood.
Instead, Kwak tries for a home run when all the friends really need is a base hit.
Friendship, the Korean way.
hwarangdo13 May 2002
Last year, "Chin goo (AKA Friend)" became the highest grossing film in Korean history, surpassing the highly acclaimed "Joint Security Area" and "Shiri". Many observers were curious as to the secret to its success. Was it because of the gangsters? the actors?
The main reason for this movie's phenomenal success was the fact that is was a very good movie about male friendship. In Korean culture, friendship between guys is a very strong relationship. Especially in the city in which the movie is set - Pusan - loyalty and sacrifice for friendship is seen as a very important part of honour.
In this movie, friendship is tested to the limit from beginning to end, as the movie's two main leads (Yoo Oh Sung and Jang Dong Gun) grow from being teenage rebels to big-time gangsters. The catch is, when they grow up, they become very different types of gangsters. One becomes a JOPOK - equivalent to the Korean Mafia, respected by the Korean people for sometimes punishing bad people. And the other becomes more of a thug gangster who kills and steals for fun.
The direction is excellent, but the acting is the element which holds the film together as a whole. The two leads are two very different actors. The first, Yoo Oh-Sung, plays the Mafia gangster and has a very tough-as-nails look and uses method acting skills. The second (arguably Korea's most popular actor right now) chews scenery with Chow Yun Fat-like charisma and striking looks.
if you enjoy gangster movies or movies about friendship, this will be a dream movie for you
The main reason for this movie's phenomenal success was the fact that is was a very good movie about male friendship. In Korean culture, friendship between guys is a very strong relationship. Especially in the city in which the movie is set - Pusan - loyalty and sacrifice for friendship is seen as a very important part of honour.
In this movie, friendship is tested to the limit from beginning to end, as the movie's two main leads (Yoo Oh Sung and Jang Dong Gun) grow from being teenage rebels to big-time gangsters. The catch is, when they grow up, they become very different types of gangsters. One becomes a JOPOK - equivalent to the Korean Mafia, respected by the Korean people for sometimes punishing bad people. And the other becomes more of a thug gangster who kills and steals for fun.
The direction is excellent, but the acting is the element which holds the film together as a whole. The two leads are two very different actors. The first, Yoo Oh-Sung, plays the Mafia gangster and has a very tough-as-nails look and uses method acting skills. The second (arguably Korea's most popular actor right now) chews scenery with Chow Yun Fat-like charisma and striking looks.
if you enjoy gangster movies or movies about friendship, this will be a dream movie for you
Best movie I have seen this weekend. And I have seen 12 of them.
Dockelektro4 March 2002
Epic tale of paths that diverge only to be reunited again at some critical moments, "Chin Goo", or "Friend" was a blockbuster at homeland Korea, and one can tell why. The story is attractive: the choices that four friends take on their lives, and the way we end up paying dearly for our mistakes and weaknesses. The construction is somehow western, which has attracted the audiences, all I can say is that I have not seen this movie, but felt it within me. Great comic timing, moving and powerful moments, great, great, GREAT actors, and master directing by an emerging director, Kwak Kyung-Taek, which shows signs of great potential in the future. Loved it all the way, hope to get the DVD as soon as possible.
Terribly Familiar, But Still Good
NIXFLIX-DOT-COM6 September 2003
FRIEND is nothing you haven't seen before. It's a South Korean Jopok movie, their version of the familiar American "rise and fall" gangster films. Having seen enough films from this part of the world, all I had to do was sit there with a checklist and checked off all the cliches that played out onscreen. FRIEND was a big hit at home, but it's certainly nothing special. The only thing that makes the movie stand out are the terrific performances by all involved, and the cinematography is just gorgeous. But for something original, go somewhere else. Then again, if you've never seen a Jopok movie before, FRIEND might seem really original to you.
7 out of 10
(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie and reviews of other foreign films)
7 out of 10
(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie and reviews of other foreign films)
Best movie I have seen this weekend. And I have seen 12 of them.
Dockelektro4 March 2002
Epic tale of paths that diverge only to be reunited again at some critical moments, "Chin Goo", our "Friend" was a blockbuster at homeland Korea, and one can tell why. The story is attractive: the choices that four friends take on their lives, and the way we end up paying dearly for our mistakes and weaknesses. The construction is somehow western, which has attracted the audiences, all I can say is that I have not seen this movie, but felt it within me. Great comic timing, moving and powerful moments, great, great, GREAT actors, and master directing by an emerging director, Kwak Kyung-Taek, which shows signs of great potential in the future. Loved it all the way, hope to get the DVD as soon as possible.
Well made Korean gangster drama
Leofwine_draca27 January 2022
A Korean gangster drama made just before that country really became acclaimed internationally for the quality of its cinema. I wasn't quite blown away here, but I was still impressed by this one, a story that follows the life stories of a group of four male friends from early childhood due to violent adulthood. Lengthy and realistic, it boasts quality acting and in the second half it becomes an upsettingly violent story of rivalry and almost inevitable bloodshed.
SEE this movie.
ssnake_1236 October 2004
I found it sitting there at blockbuster and I grabbed it for the hell of it and was pleasantly surprised. This was one of the first Korean movies I saw and was completely blown away. Just about everything in this movie is done right. The story is extremely well told and interesting. Its a really intense/serious movie, but does not take itself TOO serious like so many movies and is quite often light hearted and comical. The acting really stands out in this movie, the performances are flawless.
PLEASE see this movie. Rent it, buy it, borrow it. You will NOT be disappointed.
PLEASE see this movie. Rent it, buy it, borrow it. You will NOT be disappointed.
Not a good movie from teenagers
Hunky Stud7 February 2003
I have never seen a movie from Korea before. After this, it made me realized the deep influence of Confucius. If I am not wrong, he is the one who said that everyone should be royal to his friends. It is quite similar to some of the movies made in Hong Kong. Whenever they have gangsters in the movies, those gangsters always seem to be tough towards their nemesis, but nice, tender, royal towards their own friends. I think that it is dangerous to present that idea to the youth.
Sure, gangsters are human; they have friends, parents, etc. It does not matter what kind of background they come from, once they become members of gangsters. They are the enemies of the society. When teenagers see the movie, they will have wrong impression that it is ok to be gangsters as long as you are still royal to your own friends.
One of the guy really looked like one of the Chinese dissident Wei JingShen. They all look a little older to be high school students. Their acting skills are quite good.
I think the first hour was boring. There were no ups or downs. The last hour was a little too graphic. You can see blood, killing with knives, etc. It is an emotional movie, however, I don't want to watch again.
Sure, gangsters are human; they have friends, parents, etc. It does not matter what kind of background they come from, once they become members of gangsters. They are the enemies of the society. When teenagers see the movie, they will have wrong impression that it is ok to be gangsters as long as you are still royal to your own friends.
One of the guy really looked like one of the Chinese dissident Wei JingShen. They all look a little older to be high school students. Their acting skills are quite good.
I think the first hour was boring. There were no ups or downs. The last hour was a little too graphic. You can see blood, killing with knives, etc. It is an emotional movie, however, I don't want to watch again.
Loses something in the translation
=G=31 August 2003
'Friend" is a very Korean film about four best friend boys who grow up in Pusan (circa 1970ish) but take different paths through life. An artistically and technically good treatment of an old theme, this film is a slow moving drama which buries itself in typically Asian melodramatic style in angst and woe over issues of loyalty, friendship, betrayal, honor, etc. "Friend" eventually becomes a bit of a mess spending too much time on long shots during which we're supposed to relish in the sentiment of the moment while dedicating too little time to explaining exactly what these gangster guys do beside talking tough and trying to look cool. One gets the impression being a gangster in South Korea is quite like any other occupation and there are probably ads for gangsters in the career ops section of the local newspaper. This film is made for and was a big hit with Korean audiences. It does not, however, make it well across the East/West divide. A subtitled watch for young adult males into Eastern films. (C+)
Must-See Film
jmverville26 November 2004
It is a bit hard to know where to begin when dissecting such a film. What I can say is that this was a very stunning film, and with the time you spend thinking about it and the more times that you watch it it only becomes more relevant and better. Mr. Kwak is capable to tell the story of four friends on such an intimate level because it was based very much on his own personal experiences.
The story is extremely genuine, and it holds so much water for anybody who has ever witnessed the people that they love ruin their lives. It certainly comes straight from the heart of Kwak, and while watching it it is hard not to become emotional as you see the film being developed.
I also found the film to be made very professionally, with some great camera-work and never once did I feel that the production was sub-par. A lot of the camera work is well executed.
Overall, the dialogue and story are very powerful, and the calm, reflective nature of the film makes it easy to watch. I enjoyed this film very much. Overall, one of the best portrayals of the passage of time, nostalgic sentimentality, and the relations of friends.
The story is extremely genuine, and it holds so much water for anybody who has ever witnessed the people that they love ruin their lives. It certainly comes straight from the heart of Kwak, and while watching it it is hard not to become emotional as you see the film being developed.
I also found the film to be made very professionally, with some great camera-work and never once did I feel that the production was sub-par. A lot of the camera work is well executed.
Overall, the dialogue and story are very powerful, and the calm, reflective nature of the film makes it easy to watch. I enjoyed this film very much. Overall, one of the best portrayals of the passage of time, nostalgic sentimentality, and the relations of friends.
Not bad but lacks depth.
ben0617 December 2021
This is a story of 4 friends, 2 are students and 2 are criminals. We follow them through adolescence and into manhood and they rise up through the ranks of society. They meet up at random points in their lives and we see snapshots in time of them catching up etc. Its not necessarily a bad film, we just never find out too much about what the characters do in their day to day lives. The character plots are Spread a bit thin so the plot jumps quickly. Example of of this is when one minute the boss is a hardcore up and coming gangster, the next he's a druggie, next scene he's all clean again and he's super powerful!
This movie really shows what a versatile actor Jang dong-gun is.
mvfever16 August 2002
Because of his extraordinary handsomeness and popularity among female fans. Jang dong-gun often played romantic parts in most of his previous works. Still his works showed clearly that he made an effort in choosing parts with different characters and played them with a wide range of styles, most notably in 'Medical brother','Love wind love song' and 'All about Eve'.But Dong-su in 'Chin goo'is a totally different genre of roles he used to play the result really shows what a consummated actor Jang dong-gun is.
The movie of course is good. It becomes the most money making film in Korean history and won many awards including Jang dong-gun's best supporting actor in Asian film festival. It is a gangster movie but focus more on the characters and their friendship. Dong-su ,a quite tragic and anti-hero character, with no elegance and glory, is opposite of what audience would expect if they are used to a regular Hong Kong style ganster film. With Jang dong-gun's performance, Dong-su's suppressed rage and sadness were effectively but delicately shown, though ruthless in mob confrontations, the audience would still feel sympathetic and mourn for his inevitable death. Besides Jang dong-gun, everything else is also excellent, the photography, the story, the directing styles, other actors, especailly Yu oh-seong (who also won the best actor award in Asian film festival) who play Jeong-suk.
The movie of course is good. It becomes the most money making film in Korean history and won many awards including Jang dong-gun's best supporting actor in Asian film festival. It is a gangster movie but focus more on the characters and their friendship. Dong-su ,a quite tragic and anti-hero character, with no elegance and glory, is opposite of what audience would expect if they are used to a regular Hong Kong style ganster film. With Jang dong-gun's performance, Dong-su's suppressed rage and sadness were effectively but delicately shown, though ruthless in mob confrontations, the audience would still feel sympathetic and mourn for his inevitable death. Besides Jang dong-gun, everything else is also excellent, the photography, the story, the directing styles, other actors, especailly Yu oh-seong (who also won the best actor award in Asian film festival) who play Jeong-suk.
How to Humble 99% of American Directors
ejwells-211 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This film is simply brilliant. Makes Scorsese's Goodfellas look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (no offence, Marty...but this is even better than the film you decided to remake). I was spellbound from the opening scene til the end credits. I love a "span the generations" gangster film. This one is truly on par with the Godfather part 2, if not (dare I say it) better? Director/writer Kyung-taek Kwak proves himself a major force in Korean cinema, and I'm sure has even ruffled the feathers of the great Chan-wook Park with this one (well, maybe not "ruffled," as Park has since directed Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, and I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, and Kwak has fallen to "Typhoon.") That all said, at least we know he has it in him, even if it was just a fluke. Certainly the best Asian film of 2001. 9 of 10 stars.
Truths
misguidednrg29 March 2003
If there were a movie out that resembled my story style, it would be this one. I guess to that credit, i gave it some unfair bias =)
The elements of the story are like most of mine: Good setup and character development at beginning Wanes a bit in the middle Awesome End Underlying message trying to be conveyed
This is a beautifully told story and the fact that's its based upon the director's true life makes it better.
My only complaint is the lack of development on the shrimpy character. THe movie starts out displaying the FOUR friendships and develops on that really well. Yet near the middle of the movie, the focus seems to be on the two gangsters and the narrator. It may be b/c that's how it was in reality, but the fourth character, I thought, needed to given more of the story, at least fictional roles just for balancing purposes.
Other than a few carping details, I loved the film.
The end owns and the quote from the beginning is quite relevant. The whole story displays LIFE and has reinforced what i believe life accounts - Memories. It is a series of memories and a series of moments that truly touches the heart and will perhaps make you realize memories of your own and how important and effective they are.
8/10
The elements of the story are like most of mine: Good setup and character development at beginning Wanes a bit in the middle Awesome End Underlying message trying to be conveyed
This is a beautifully told story and the fact that's its based upon the director's true life makes it better.
My only complaint is the lack of development on the shrimpy character. THe movie starts out displaying the FOUR friendships and develops on that really well. Yet near the middle of the movie, the focus seems to be on the two gangsters and the narrator. It may be b/c that's how it was in reality, but the fourth character, I thought, needed to given more of the story, at least fictional roles just for balancing purposes.
Other than a few carping details, I loved the film.
The end owns and the quote from the beginning is quite relevant. The whole story displays LIFE and has reinforced what i believe life accounts - Memories. It is a series of memories and a series of moments that truly touches the heart and will perhaps make you realize memories of your own and how important and effective they are.
8/10
very beautiful movie
d_man98921 April 2002
the story of this movie is very unique, and it is unbelievable for those people who live in North America. All these gang fights that we will never see in our countries are happening like everyday in Asia. i really suggest you to watch this beautiful movie, if you watch this movie and u think it is a bad movie, and then u have no taste for movies
So-so gangster flick
dmuel20 May 2006
Friend tells the story of childhood friends who take divergent paths in life, including one who pursues a life of vicious thuggery. Another also adopts to a life of crime though his manner is not quite as repugnant. Conflict ultimately engulfs these individuals, and this tests the depth of their friendship.
While at times an engaging story, Friend literally oozes sentimentality in its long drawn-out finale. Focusing intensely on the male bonding that takes place between its leads, Kwak attempts to give us a portrait of men driven to acts of violence that, despite their repugnance, cannot sever the ties existing between them. Indeed, women in this film are relegated to the background, the attraction between the sexes also failing to dampen the emotional connection between its male characters. The story ultimately fails to convince. In spite of the praise heaped upon this film from other viewers, this is a story so dripping in emotional content, (it is laid on far too thick), the movie ultimately becomes an overly romantic take on male-bonding.
One could also view Friends as an allegory on the North/South Korean divide. In spite of terrible violence in the past, the two Koreas share an inseparable bond, or so the allegory might suggest. But since the film doesn't quite deliver on its substance, an allegorical critique isn't really necessary.
While at times an engaging story, Friend literally oozes sentimentality in its long drawn-out finale. Focusing intensely on the male bonding that takes place between its leads, Kwak attempts to give us a portrait of men driven to acts of violence that, despite their repugnance, cannot sever the ties existing between them. Indeed, women in this film are relegated to the background, the attraction between the sexes also failing to dampen the emotional connection between its male characters. The story ultimately fails to convince. In spite of the praise heaped upon this film from other viewers, this is a story so dripping in emotional content, (it is laid on far too thick), the movie ultimately becomes an overly romantic take on male-bonding.
One could also view Friends as an allegory on the North/South Korean divide. In spite of terrible violence in the past, the two Koreas share an inseparable bond, or so the allegory might suggest. But since the film doesn't quite deliver on its substance, an allegorical critique isn't really necessary.
Reminds me of Home.
dennisyoon2 March 2004
A friend of mine who grew up in Korea recommended this movie to me a couple years ago. He said it "reminded him of friends he had when he was young." I thought about that and remembered my friends who I watched my first porno with and who fought by my side win or lose and who I parted ways with sometimes on not so good terms. I ended up thanking him because the movie is a treasure trove of memories of coming of age. It reminded me of elder brothers who showed me honor in martial arts and gangsta life and my close friends who went their separate ways. Just like my friend said it reminded me of friends and growing up.
10/10. Great story. Great Acting. Great Characters. Stylish Violence. Well produced. Awesome Gangsta Drama. Right up there with "Failan" for impact.
10/10. Great story. Great Acting. Great Characters. Stylish Violence. Well produced. Awesome Gangsta Drama. Right up there with "Failan" for impact.
Beautiful Movie
Myrdinn2 September 2003
One of my favorite movies. Normally I ain't into all the "friendship" theme movies, but this one has way much more and didn't approach the whole "friendship" issue that... touchy touchy. A must-see for everyone, don't base the movie off the fact that its Korean. Its a jewel really.
Chingu
ZomBieHamsteR28 June 2005
This is quite possibly one of the most powerful movies I've seen. By far it's the best South Korean movie.
It's a story about four companions who grow up together in South Korea. The four friends go throughout life always keeping in touch with each other, helping each other out, and always remain by each others side ;). Not only does the film contain some intense fight scenes, but it amazingly illustrates the bond that four kids can share with each other.
Despite what other reviews may say, if you're interested in a good movie to watch with a best friend or girlfriend, I highly recommend this.
It's a story about four companions who grow up together in South Korea. The four friends go throughout life always keeping in touch with each other, helping each other out, and always remain by each others side ;). Not only does the film contain some intense fight scenes, but it amazingly illustrates the bond that four kids can share with each other.
Despite what other reviews may say, if you're interested in a good movie to watch with a best friend or girlfriend, I highly recommend this.
One of the best Korean films
evilhinata27 April 2005
In a sense, Chingoo s probably one of the best Korean films because the concept is realistic, and although some of the circumstances and events in the movie seem to wild, the overall premise of the movie is still there. Four boys, of different backgrounds, grow up together. As they go through high school, it becomes apparent that each boy will take a different road entering man-hood. No matter what- each will stay will remain friends despite the drastic choices each of them make. (Hense the title "Chingoo" which means friend in Korean.) The only problem I had with the movie was the nagging question: What happened to the girls? The movie introduces several girls, and then they seem to disappear. This movie is great for anyone, it will keep you watching until the very end.
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