A Bittersweet Life

A Bittersweet Life
Theatrical poster
Hangul	달콤한 인생
Hanja	달콤한 人生
RR	Dalkomhan insaeng
MR	Talk‘omhan insaeng
Directed by	Kim Ji-woon
Produced by	Park Dong-ho Eugene Lee
Written by	Kim Ji-woon
Starring	Lee Byung-hun Kim Yeong-cheol Shin Min-ah Hwang Jung-min Kim Roe-ha Lee Gi-yeong
Music by	Jang Yeong-gyu Dalparan
Cinematography	Kim Ji-yong
Editing by	Choi Jae-geun
Distributed by	CJ Entertainment
Release date(s)	April 1, 2005 (2005-04-01) (South Korea)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean, Russian
Admissions	1,291,621

A Bittersweet Life (Dalkomhan insaeng) (Hangul: 달콤한 인생) is a 2005 South Korean film directed and written by Kim Ji-woon and starring Lee Byung-hun. Ruthlessly violent, it illustrates the ethical codes in the Korean mob and how they clash with personal morality.

The film premiered at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

Kim Sun-woo (Lee Byung-hun) is an enforcer and manager for a hotel owned by Kang (Kim Yeong-cheol), a cold and calculating crime boss to whom he is unquestionably loyal. The two share concerns over business tensions with Baek Jr. (Hwang Jung-min), a son from a rival family, which is when Kang assigns Sun-Woo what is perceived to be a simple errand while he is away on a business trip — to shadow his young mistress, Heesoo (Shin Min-ah), whom he fears is having an "affair" with another man, giving Sun-Woo the mandate to kill her (and her paramour) if he manages to discover it. As he performs his duty — following Heesoo, and escorting her to a music recital one day — he becomes quietly enthralled by the girl's beauty and innocence as glimpses into his lonely, empty personal life become more prevalent. When he does come to discover Heesoo's lover directly in her home, he fiercely beats him and prepares to inform Kang, but his attraction for her causes him to hesitate. He thus spares the two on the condition that they no longer see each other again, earning him Heesoo's enmity.

Meanwhile, Sun-woo continues to be embroiled in personal business with Baek Jr. over having beaten up several of his henchmen earlier for overstaying their welcome at the hotel. He is then threatened by one of his enforcers to apologize, but he adamantly refuses, fueled by his frustrations over Heesoo. As he relaxes in his apartment later one night, he is suddenly kidnapped by Baek's men to be tortured, but before they can do so they receive new orders via phone call and he is abruptly carried off to Kang, who has returned from overseas and has found out about his attempted cover-up of Heesoo's affair. Kang's men torture him into confessing why he lied until he is left alone to think about his answer. A daring but messy escape follows, after which Sun-woo plans his revenge.

Help from one of Sun-woo's loyal co-workers provides him with money and new clothes to go about his plan: he secretly delivers Heesoo a gift to make amends and sets up a meeting with some local arms dealers, but as they are affiliated with Kang's organization he ends up killing them over a deal to buy a handgun — this incurs a vendetta with the brother of one of the dealers, who promptly sets out to find Sun-woo. He then goes on to set up a veiled rendezvous with Baek Jr. and kills him after a brief conversation, but he is viciously stabbed in the process. Bleeding, his violent shooting spree leads directly to Kang amidst one of his business meetings, where he vents bitterly over how badly he has been treated despite his seven years of service. Kang does not answer, and instead tries to subtly empathize. Sun-woo then shoots him, prompting a shootout with Baek Jr.'s henchmen, who had quickly picked up his trail.

Sun-Woo emerges as the only survivor of the battle with the arms dealer's brother finally catching up to him in the same room. Now dying from multiple gunshot wounds,he calls Heesoo and pauses to reminisce on his only day with Heesoo, when he had escorted her to her music recital; in his memory, as he watches her play her cello he finds himself overwhelmed with emotion and, in a rare moment of contentment, he smiles. As he sheds a tear over this memory, the brother of the arms dealer executes him.

The film ends with a continuation of an earlier scene of Sun-Woo looking out of a window at the city below him. After making sure he's alone, he begins to shadowbox his reflection in the glass, looking very happy.

Cast

• Lee Byung-hun as Kim Sun-woo
• Kim Young-cheol as Mr. Kang
• Shin Min-a as Hee-soo
• Hwang Jung-min as President Baek
• Jin Goo as Min-gi
• Kim Hae-gon as Gun dealer
• Kim Roi-ha as Mun-suk
• Oh Dal-su as Myung-gu
• Lee Gi-yeong as Mu-sung
• Eric Mun, aka Mun Jung-hyk as Gun dealer's brother

Box office and critical reception

The film was screened out of competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.^[1]

Critical reception was highly positive, with critics describing it as "organic, essential, beautifully staged and refreshingly realistic."^[2] Derek Elley from Variety magazine described the film as "a tour de force of noirish style and Korean ultra-violence that will have genre fans nailed to their seats." ^[3]Sam Toy from Empire magazine stated Lee "puts in a star-making performance as the brutal chief whip-turned-fugitive, never overplaying what could easily become hammy and clichéd, and easily holds this Korean noir together." He added "this is hugely enjoyable, and beautifully brutal."^[4]

Lee Byung-hun was praised for his acting ability with a critic from Cinema Eye saying that he "brings sheer excitement in his performance" and is "an angel dressed in vengeance". The critic also noted that A Bittersweet Life is "the best film of 2005."^[5] On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently holds a 100%, with an average score of 8.1 out of 10 based on eight reviews.^[6] A critic from BeyondHollywood.com gave the film 4/5 stars.^[7]

In 2009, Empire Magazine named it third in a poll of the "20 Greatest Gangster Movies You've Never Seen* (*Probably)".

Though the box office is unknown, when the film finally ended its theatrical run, it had 1,291,621 admissions.^[2]

Awards and nominations

2006 8th Deauville Asian Film Festival[8] LOTUS ACTION ASIA – Grand Prix Action Asia, Action Asia Prize 2006 Fant-Asia Film Festival[9] Silver Prize Best Asian Film Best photography – Ji-yong Kim 2005 Sitges Film Festival[10] Best Original Soundtrack – Dalparan and Jang Young-Gyu Nomination – Best Film 2006 42nd Paeksang Arts Awards[11] Best Actor – Lee Byung-hun 2005 26th Blue Dragon Film Awards Best Cinematography – Kim Ji-yong Nomination – Best Director – Kim Ji-woon Nomination – Best Leading Actor – Lee Byung-hun Nomination – Best Supporting Actor – Hwang Jung-min Nomination – Best Music – Dalparan and Jang Young-gyu Nomination – Best Art Direction – Ryu Sung-Hee Nomination – Best Lighting – Shin Sang-Ryeol

2005 25th Korean Critics' Choice Awards Top 10 Films Best Actor – Lee Byung-hun Best Music – Dalparan, Jang Young-gyu 2005 13th Chunsa Film Art Awards Best Actor – Lee Byung-hun 2005 42nd Grand Bell Awards[12][13] Best Supporting Actor – Hwang Jung-min Nomination – Best Actor – Lee Byung-hun Nomination – Best Film Nomination – Best Director – Kim Ji-woon Nomination – Best Cinematography – Kim Ji-yong Nomination – Best Art Direction – Ryu Sung-Hee Nomination – Best Editing – Choi Jae-geun Nomination – Best Music – Jang Young-gyu Nomination – Best Sound 2005 4th Korean Film Awards Best Supporting Actor – Hwang Jung-min

Soundtrack

A Bittersweet Life Original Soundtrack
Soundtrack album
Released	April 7, 2005
Genre	Soundtrack
Label	Pony Canyon (KR)

The A Bittersweet Life original soundtrack was released on April 7, 2005.^[14]

A Bittersweet Life OST track listing
No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Dialogue #1"		0:27
2.	"My Sad Night"		4:00
3.	"Irreversible Time"		2:14
4.	"Dialogue #2"		0:04
5.	"Romance"	Yuhki Kuramoto	5:00
6.	"Red Lounge"	Dalparan	4:26
7.	"Long Journey"		2:33
8.	"Red Ice Rink"	Dalparan	3:05
9.	"A Bittersweet Life II"	Dalparan	3:09
10.	"A Bittersweet Life"	Dalparan	2:33
11.	"Escape"	Dalparan	6:02
12.	"Fairness"		2:58
13.	"Dark Room"	Dalparan	3:09
14.	"Follow"	Dalparan	2:25
15.	"Etude in E Minor"		1:55
16.	"Dialogue #3"		0:20
17.	"Sky Lounge"		4:18
18.	"Irreversible Time (Quartet)"		2:09
19.	"A Bittersweet Life III"	Yang Pa	5:39
20.	"A Honeyed Question"	Hwang Jung-min	4:27

^[15][16]

Other adaptations

There is a Bollywood-remake of the movie called Awarapan (2007), starring Emraan Hashmi.

See also

• List of Korean language films

References

1. ^ "Festival de Cannes: A Bittersweet Life". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4280559/year/2005.html. Retrieved 2009-12-12. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "달콤한 인생 (A Bittersweet Life) DVD Review". TwitchFilm. Archived from the original on 2007-12-23. http://web.archive.org/web/20071223170821/http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/003044.html. Retrieved 2008-02-08. 
3. ^ http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117927113?refcatid=31
4. ^ http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/ReviewComplete.asp?FID=133188
5. ^ "A Bittersweet Life". Cinema Eye. http://www.cinemaeye.com/index/reviews/rev_more/1660/.com. Retrieved 2008-02-08. 
6. ^ "A Bittersweet Life". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bittersweet_life/#synopsis. Retrieved 2008-02-08. 
7. ^ "A Bittersweet Life (2005) Movie Review". Beyond Hollywood. http://www.beyondhollywood.com/a-bittersweet-life-2005-movie-review/. Retrieved 2008-02-08. 
8. ^ http://www.hancinema.net/8th-edition-of-deauville-asian-film-festival-prizes-5531.html
9. ^ http://twitchfilm.com/news/2006/07/fantasia-winners-announced.php
10. ^ http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000155/2005
11. ^ http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0001111/2006
12. ^ http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000925/2005
13. ^ http://www.cinemasie.com/en/fiche/prix/25/
14. ^ http://www.yesasia.com/us/1003983604-0-0-0-en/info.html
15. ^ http://www.asiatorrents.com/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=f4f8ad82913ea33b87214041978b5ae1f991f358
16. ^ http://www.asianmovieweb.com/en/soundtracks/a_bittersweet_life.htm

External links

• Official website (Korean)
• Official website (in Korean or English)
• A Bittersweet Life at the Internet Movie Database
• A Bittersweet Life at AllRovi
• A Bittersweet Life at Rotten Tomatoes
• A Bittersweet Life at HanCinema