大象传媒

A tragedy with Shakespearean overtones, A Bittersweet Life (Dalkomhan Insaeng) uses an illicit romance as an excuse for a gangland bloodbath that has wonderful visual flair and clever wit but loses the balance between emotion and action. Assigned to keep tabs on the boss' girlfriend, hotel manager cum enforcer Kim Sun Woo (Lee Byung Hun) finds himself falling under her spell and one act of compassion later, he becomes a fugitive on the run from enemies and former allies alike.

Beginning with a taste of Sun Woo's brutal working methods, the pace then slows down as our antihero tails the beautiful Hee Soo (Mina Shin) whom Boss Kang (Kim Yeong Cheol) suspects of being unfaithful. Sun Woo's infatuation is constructed by increments as he notices the little tender things about her and rather than plunging them into each other's arms, this subtle progress allows Sun Woo to disobey his master in a more creative manner with horrific consequences none-the-less.

"ARRESTING IMAGERY"

As in A Tale Of Two Sisters, director Kim Jee Woon demonstrates a keen eye for arresting imagery but once Sun Woo embarks on the warpath, Hee Soo is all but forgotten and the emotional heart gives way to one violent set piece after another. Kim also begins injecting comic scenes which work well but are at odds with what has gone before. As he machine-guns his way towards the conclusion, Sun Woo's fallible nature is a challenge to cinematic convention and although his is an uneven journey, it's still a thrilling one.