As the year/decade draws to a close I thought it’d be interesting to see which films have left the biggest impression on me. Naturally, I didn’t catch every film released over the past ten years but here’s my personal top ten:

1) Oldboy: 2003 – South Korea
2) Amores Perros: 2000 – Mexico
3) Mystic River: 2003 – America
4) A Bittersweet Life: 2005 – South Korea
5) Children of Men: 2006 – UK
6) Kill Bill Vol 1: 2004 – America
7) Together 2000 – Sweden
No Country For Old Men 2007 – America
9) 3:10 to Yuma 2007 – America
10) Battle Royale 2000 – Japan

I’d also give the following an honourble mention: Memento, The Fall, Intacto, Infernal Affairs, The Woodsman, Bourne Ultimatum, District 9, 3-Iron, Brick, Eternal Sunshine, Primer, Lilya-4-Ever, In Bruges, City of God, Love Me If You Dare

Just realised that they’re almost all action/dramas. Weird.

Kim Sunwoo is the loyal, favored right hand man of a powerful mob boss, but finds his life spinning wildly out of control after he is brutally punished for making one single mistake. The film’s contemplation of the harsh realities of criminal life elevates this from being just any gangster flick. It’s a lonely life without roots and no, there isn’t going to be a band of brothers having your back when the going gets tough. In fact, it feels a lot like an antithesis to the glorified gangster life popularized by Hong Kong cinema (I’m looking at you, Johnnie To), that is, until Eric Mun of Shinhwa comes strolling in as the sexy gun supplier and makes that lifestyle all cool and attractive again. Yep, you’ve got awesome actors like Lee Byung Hun and Hwang Jung Min in the same film and the one who leaves the most distinct impression on me and my hormones is Eric the popstar *shakes head at self*.

The oddly placed moments of humor in the film were…oddly placed, but nevertheless welcomed, especially since they’re of the darkly ironic variety that combined with emotional depth, visual style, and several killer action scenes, makes A Bittersweet Life a sweet film (you knew I had to do it, didn’t you? ).

Hello everyone Jourdan here posting some old blog post of my favorite films of 08 that I did on my Myspace. I am putting this up to give you an idea of what you can expect from me if you are not familiar already. You can find all my previous reviews their http://www.myspace.com/jourdanwitau .

Best of 08 and Beyond

So here it is again I have compiled all the movies and listed my favorite films of 2008. Sorry for the length of how many films on my list. I was going to make a top ten and a honorable mention but decided that if I where to put these films in that category then they must have fit my criteria. All of these movies, I found entertaining for various reason. These films could be entertaining on a pop corn way or technical way or both. All of these movies I think should be seen and I think represent 2008. Even though my list is 25 strong there are still a few movies that I have not seen yet that might have made the list: Grand Torino, Frost/Nixon, the Wrestler, Revolutionary Road, the Reader, Synecdoche, New York, Doubt, and Milk. Out of all of those I really want to see The Wrestler. Enough of this let me get to the list but after this.

A Bittersweet Life

This shouldn’t make it on the list because it came out in 2005 I think. This is a Korean revenge movie that is really great. That is all you need to know going into this movie and that Ji-Woon Kim directed it. I have seen three of his movies and they are all pretty good and I fully believe that I will watch anything he makes from now one blindly. That’s how good I think he is. I think he brings depth and cool hip artistry to all of his movies. For those of you who have seen the great Old Boy film I would say that this movie is its fraternal twin brother. You should try to seek this one out if that sound likes your cup of tea.

And now on to the real list…

25. The Orphanage

The only reason this isn’t higher on my list is because it came out at the end of 07 and I watched on DVD not in the theater. It is a really great ghost story that is genuinely creepy. Oh yea this is a Spanish film so you’re gonna have to read.

24. Step Brothers

Straight up stupid. I think Will Farrell and John C Reilly are perfecting there retarded man child with each film they do like this. I have to say that I prefer there other movies compared to this but it is really funny and at least stands next to the all their films really well. Also this is another Judd Apatow linked movies, which is comedy gold that’s deep-fried in liquid gold. This movie is tied with Forgetting Sarah Marshall…

23. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Even though these two movies Sarah Marshall and step Brothers are different types of comedy the both have in common the Apatow effect. Now this movie is closer in tone to Apatows directed comedies like knocked up. I also have to say that this movie has one of the best break-up scene I have seen.

22. Cloverfield

I almost forgot that this film came out in 08. The sad thing about this movie is that you have to come in this movie expecting what it is to really appreciate it. I know a lot of people where on the tip that it should be more like Godzilla. That is totally wrong way to go into this movie. It is a story of group of people and what would they do and go through if Godzilla was real. Being civilians they wouldn’t be really up close fight this monster. I think it was well directed and elevated the sub genre of found footage. It also has a killer score that only plays during the credits but it is a great homage to Godzilla.

21. Zack and Miri Make a Porno….

Now this film may not be on other people’s lists but if you are a Kevin Smith fan you will really like this film. It shows the growth with Kevin smith while still being foul as always. I also think he nails relationships pretty well in this film even though it is in the situation of making a porno. This may not be as funny as Step Brothers but this is more complete film with a full-fledged growth arc

20. Slumdog Millionaire

Now don’t get me wrong this is a really good movie. Is it worth all the good praise yes. Is it worth that much praise of that its one of the best film of 08 no. Yea it is on my list but not my top ten. You should see this and director Danny Boyle continually amazes me on his versatility (he did trainspotting, 28days later, millions, sunshine. You should check those out if you haven’t seen them yet and you will know what I am talking about). There is a part in this movie that is gross and funny as hell that you should see.

19. Valkyrie….

For anyone doubting Bryan Singer who directed Superman Returns should watch this movie (oh by the way I still think Superman Returns is a good film that is a great opening to a really great action while deep sequel). This is a really fascinating film about a true story. Even with know what happens with this story Bryan Singer creates true tension and thrills.

18. The Strangers

This isn’t the best film but it definitely one of the scarier ones I saw. That is the main reason it is on this list because it was scary which is what a horror movie should do. I can totally see some one being freaked out after this movie.

17. The Good the Bad the Weird.

This is the second Ji-Woon movie that I saw this year that was really great change to the western genre. This movie is not being released for American distribution for couple of months from now but it was shown in 08. Now this may not be for the casual moviegoer but if you love movies like I do and you like western will like this film. This movie if you cant tell is a play on the classic Clint Eastwood Sergio Leon Spaghetti Western the good The Bad and the ugly. This movie totally pays respect to that film by being a good film

16. Wanted

The first comic book adaptation on my list. I think this film goes really well with the first matrix. I think this would be the matrix little brother. The action is over the top and comes really close to crossing the line but never did for me. I have skimmed through the graphic novel and found that it is pretty different. Oh for the ladies there is a shot of a buffed out James McAvoy and for the fellas their Angelina Jolie. On a last note about this film I have to say that Morgan Freeman can give Samuel Jackson a run for his money on who can say Mother Fucker better.

15. Rambo

Once again another film that I almost forgot came out in 08. In short this film is done like an 80’s movie that is done now. The action is over the top gory and the story is as serious can be and loved the shit out of this movie. This movie had me waiting for Sylvester Stallone’s next film, which happens to be the expendables that is about mercenary hired to take out a dictator which. It will star Jason Statham Jet Li Dolph Lundren Mickey Rourke. Tell me that aint some 80’s action gold for you.

14. Speed Racer

Just like Cloverfield I think you can only enjoy this film knowing that this is a live action anime. If you cant go into this movie with that in mind I think you maybe at lose because it is a really good film for what it is. It is a really vibrant movie and might hurt your eyes but if you can take it you in for a first live action anime ever done and maybe never will be done ever again (because it flopped the shit up at the box office)

13. Kung Fu Panda

What Kill Bill did, Kung Fu Panda did for family/cartoon films. The animation and action are really great (it is worth getting in blu ray by the way). It is a pretty simple movie that took me by surprise in how they really tried to respect kung Fu movie in general which made it that much better as a film. Oh for your information this movie is not done by Pixar too which is great.

12. Let the right one in

A subtitled Swedish vampire movie about two kids that fall for each other. It is eerie and quirky at the same time. It has a dark humor and thrilling element to it. Honestly this is one of the best vampire film that I have seen in awhile. It is a weird film that you should seek out.

11. Tropic Thunder

If the all stars aligned Robert Downey Jr would get awards for his part in this movie. If you are watching this movie you are watch Robert Downey Jr, it is totally his film. I have watched this movie about 8 times and everything from him still makes me laugh. Oh if you have this movie on DVD or blu ray you should check out the commentary by the cast because Robert Downey Jr does the commentary in character, which is pretty funny too.

10. Hulk

The second comic book movie on my list. The one thing about this film that besides getting the hulk better then most have is the end fight scene. It is what a super hero fight scene should be like no question about it. This is also a great companion film to Iron man and is a great set up for the future avengers movie that I hope will get made

9. Hellboy 2 the Curse of the Golden Army

If you like pulp things then you will like hell boy. Nazi to fairy tale creatures it’s everything that a geek like me. It also has Seth McFarlane doing one of the characters voice (if you don’t know he is the family guy guy). I know that I want to see where Hellboy 3 will go if they ever make it. Guillermo Del Toro is the man and if you haven’t seen Pan’s or hellboy the first one you should check it out. I have total confidence in him on doing the Hobbit.

8. Wall-E

What can I say like Apatow and his crew Pixar is animation gold deep-fried in liquid gold. They just get better technically with there animation every time out and they always tell a great story with great characters. The sound design was by the same guy who did R2-D2 so you know it gangsta awesome. This is also a must to have in Blu Ray.

7. Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

What makes this film is seeing this character go through life. If you find that watching some one life unfold is boring this is not for you. Because that is the hook the selling point. It is not the idea of a person physically growing younger. Yea that gives the character a different out look but its Benjamin growth as a person that was the hook for me. The special effects are really great in this film and I think they should win for that at least when awards are given out.

6. Pineapple Express

Like Robert Downey Jr I think James Franco should get nominated at least for his role as a pothead drug dealer. It is one of the funniest movies I have seen this year because they got how potheads are. Its just funny seeing how a pothead would act in danger. I didn’t mention this in Zack and Miri but Craig Robinson is damn funny in her as he is in that movie too. Oh yea this another Apatow comedy Gold fried in liquid gold.

5. The Fall

Visual poetry and pure imagination. I honestly think the little girl from this film should be noticed for her performance because it was so natural and spot on. Her acting was not acting it was actually the character on the screen if that even makes any sense. For those of you who don’t know this film it’s by the same guy who did the Cell with JLO. Now that you have an idea of how artistic this movie can be, the cell doesn’t even come close to the fall. It is about a man that is injured and he befriends a little girl and tells her story to get close to her. Once he has here trust he tries to have her help him commit suicide. The story that is told to the girl is being shown through the eyes of the little girl. I honestly think this movie was totally overlooked. Really great film.

4. JCVD

Out of all the movies that came out this year this one surprised me the most. I already had read good things about this film so I was came in the movie with some pretty high expectation. I came out of the film with my experiences that exceeded my expectations. I have to say Jean Claude Van Damme is really good in this movie. He is what makes this movie and the indie director feel to it also helps.

3. Burn After Reading

Out side of the main comedy movies that came out this year this was a stand out for me. This is a Coen Brothers and I didn’t anything less from them. This movie had me laughing on just how absurd it was. You should come in this movie with just the trailer as knowledge and know that it is a movie by the Coens and that it’s going to be in the same vein as there previous comedy.

2. Iron Man

There where three movies going into 08 that I couldn’t wait to see. That was The Dark Knight, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Krystal Skulls and Iron Man. Thankfully this movie and dark knight came through in spades. I pretty sure if you are reading this you have already seen this movie so there nothing much to say about it beside that it full filled everything you want from a fun summer blockbuster. I hope with the next installment that they up the fighting between Iron Man and whom ever he is fighting against. I also got to say that this was Robert Downey’s year. I think he had a year like Johnny Depp when he did the first Pirates movie and Once upon a time in Mexico or even better.

1. The Dark Knight

Now all of these movie can be switched around depending on my mood except this one. This one cannot because it hits all the right notes and give the best any chance it gets. This may not be a surprise but, I don’t think anyone can say that it is not worth anything that has gotten. If you are of the few people that have not seen it you should go see it now and if you want to be cheap come over my house and you can watch it in blu ray cuz I will watch that any time. If you watch movie because of good acting or good directing or for some good action or some good story telling or for a good film score or for good dialog or want something deeper out of a movie then you should watch the Dark Knight. It has everything and does it at a high level that make it a great film. This may not win every award but this film sure does deserves the nomination in multiple categories and deserves awards of if they do win for best director best film and best supporting actor.

There you have it my guide 2008. It took me a couple of weeks to get this together.

Now if you are not tired of reading the BS that I am writing, here is the list of films I am looking forward to

Avatar

James Cameron back at doing sci-fi(he did the first two terminators, abyss, Aliens and that damn Titanic movie) I can say that I am anticipating it. The word on this is that it is supposed to be the next step in movie going and make it worth it to everyone to go to your local theater instead of watching a bootleg or streaming on a website or waiting for DVD. That is because it’s supposed to be the next step in 3D.

Star Trek

JJ Abrams who made my all time favorite show LOST is directing this one. The guy that plays Sylar is playing Spock and he is a dead ringer for him. By the trailers it looks like it is promising something very epic that we have never seen with Star Trek.

Watchman

Read the graphic Novel it really is that good. It looks like this might be a faithful adaptation.

inglorious basterds

Yes that is spelled right. Quentin Tarantino doing aWW2 flick with Brad Pitt. What else can you ask for. This movie has been rumored even before Kill Bill So fans of his have been waiting for this one and who doesn’t like a war flick.

Public Enemy

Johnny Depp playing John Dillinger. If you don’t know I think Johnny Depp is the shit and I wish he played regular roles more often like this one. That is not saying his Tim Burton character are not good. Oh yea Christian Bale is the lead FBI agent after him. This is done by Mr. blow shit up him self Michael Bay I think this will be closer to Heat Then Transformers.

Coraline

The guy that did A Nightmare Before Christmas Henry Selick and the comic book writer Neil Gaiman that did Sandman and Stardust. I think this is a great pairing.

Monsters vs. Aliens

Just on the fact it super geeky concept.

Up!

Animated gold fried in liquid gold from Pixar. There is nothing else to say why I wanna see this.

Brothers Bloom

If you like film and or the noir then you should check out director Rian Johnson first film. Based on that film I want to see it. It also helps that its got a rock solid cast with Mark Ruffalo Adrien Brody, and Rachel Weisz.

Terminator Salvation

Now this is the scary one of the year in which I will be sad if it doesn’t deliver. It has nothing to do with James Cameron and is directed by McG who did those Charlie’s Angles movies. This is supposed to deliver on that human vs. robots war that was shown in T2. John Connor is being played by one of my favorite actors Christian Bale so that also elevated my anticipation of this movie. It also comes out on my birthday May 22 and I hope it doesn’t disappoint like Indiana Jones did by not being as good as the previous movies.

Harry Potter and the Half-blood prince

I really like this series and it always leaves me anticipating the next film. The last one fulfilled what I wanted to see in a wizard battle. I must admit that when the first film came out I thought it was stupid. Now I really like this series. I still wont read the books though.

Funny People

Comedy gold fried in liquid gold Judd Apatow is directing this one. This is where I would say NUFF said but it does star Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen.

Shutter Island

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Dicaprio and this is where I put NUFF Said.

Where the Wild Things are

One of my fav director Spike Jonze (adaptation) doing one of the most well known children’s book. I have seen some of the pics of the monster and look pretty damn cool. I have to say that the concept of Where the Wild Things are is pretty damn Geeky.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

I have never read the Roald Dahl’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox so I am only anticipating this because of Wes Anderson (Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic) and that it is his first animated film.

Sherlock Holmes

Robert Downey sword fighting boxing and solving crimes as Sherlock Holmes and Jud Law as a bad ass looking Dr Watson, I am sold. This is supposed to have more action and thrilling elements then previous Sherlock’s. For those of you who think that is dumb in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books he is a expert Stick Fighter and bar knuckle boxer. Guy Ritchie(snatch, lock stock and two smoking barrels) directing and hoping he can do more then sleek crime films.

Year One

Jack Black and Michael Cera in 1 A.D. and directed by Harold Ramis the guy that played Egon in Ghostbusters and wrote a whole bunch of funny movies.

The Box

Richard Kelly who did Donny Darko does a film based on a twilight zone episode about a box that a gives you what you want but also kills someone at the same time. Perfect pairing.

Ninja Assassin

Ninja’s and the guy that directed V for Vendetta and produced by the matrix boys and written by comic book by J. Michael Staczynski. Oh did I say it’s about Ninjas and who doesn’t like ninjas.

Transformers 2:Revenge of the Fallen.

Bigger then the first one.

Wolverine: Origins

Huge Jackman is a perfect wolverine and director Gavin Hood first film Tsotsi was gritty and was pretty good. The movie has Gambit, Blob, and Deadpool who is played by Ryan VanWilder Reynolds. The trailer just didn’t sell me yet but you know what I will still see this movie.

Black Dynamite

Just checkout the red band trailer and tell me you don’t wanna see this. If you don’t sorry for making you watch that trailer but that shit was funny to me.

and there you have it I done and tired!

A Bittersweet Life – Dalkomhan insaeng – 2005

A Bittersweet Life is the movie that inspired me to open this blog. I tried to briefly explain it all in my first entry, and then for some reason, i just never got back to it. You know, they say things always happen for a reason, and so after stalling for so long waiting for the right moment  to share this with you, something (or should i say somebody?) happened and made me change my mind. And so here it goes:

A Bittersweet Life is a 2005 movie by Kim Ji-Woon. It tells the extremely intense story of Kim Sun-woo, an enforcer and hotel manager. His mobster boss, Mr.Kang, has to go out of town for some time and asks him to look after his little girlfriend Hee-soo, jealous and afraid she might be seeing younger men while he’s away. Hee-soo does in fact have a boyfriend, but when Sun-woo finds out, he surprisingly shows mercy on her. This results into an act of betrayal towards his boss, and that’s where everything starts going extremely wrong.. Mr Kang is determined to kill him. Sun-woo is determined to fight for his life. and so a big masterpieced path of revenge is set.

This movie is undeniably inspired by Oldboy. It’s about vengeance, about somebody who has to go thru a lot of violence to save his life, about tragedy and betrayal. The protagonist is Lee Byung-hun, that we have seen before in Cut and Joint Security Area (also from Park Chan-wook).

It is also about preciousness in a world that is cruel, and wrong, and those little special happy moments that make it worth it.  Sun-woo is alienated from society, and falls in love with the thought of a woman who he’s only met for one day. He never sees her again, but in order to preserve her beauty he is determined to fight everything he has ever known, and sacrifice himself. There’s so much violence and blood combined with a sense of distant poetic tragedy, and Kim Ji-woon does an immaculate job at showing it. All topics that deeply influence and touch me.

If i had to pick only one word to describe this movie, it would definitely be: INTENSE. Absolutely a must see. Especially if you have somebody in mind..

Hard to find fault with this movie

When I finished watching this movie one of my first thoughts was where are the American filmmakers who are making movies like this? If this movie had been made here, which it never would/could, my guess is there would have been a dozen cars blown up, a city destroyed, a billion additional bullets fired, a gratuitous sex scene, a blazingly loud techno-rock score, an eye toward high fashion and merchandise tie-ins and an ending that was overly sentimental and unrealistic. When it was over people would have commented that Bruce Willis was getting a little too old for these types of roles and life would go on and the movie would be forgotten. Life still goes on, but hopefully A Bittersweet Life will get wider recognition and notice.

Sun woo is an enforcer for the mob and he receives a simple assignment from his boss to watch his much younger girlfriend while he leaves town because he’s suspicious that she might be seeing someone else. If Sun woo discovers that she is, his instructions are to kill them both. In the meantime, a rival gang is trying to move in on Sun woo’s boss’ territory and its Sun woo’s job to deal with that. Sun woo also finds himself enjoying the company of the woman he’s been told to watch and maybe kill. Sun woo, a master of martial arts, soon finds himself in need of a gun. That’s a very, very small thumbnail sketch; the plot is much deeper and intricate than that, but I’m not providing a synopsis, only my thoughts.

The writer/director filled the movie with obvious nods to Taxi Driver, Kill Bill and Sam Peckinpah and probably others that I didn’t get, but what sealed the fact in my mind that this was a magnificent crime drama was the character depth of Sun woo. Maybe I’m wrong, but in a lot of movies we have heroes who are bad guys doing bad things for good reasons and because they’re doing something good it’s all OK. In A Bittersweet life we have a hero who’s a bad guy doing bad things for pretty much bad reasons and you can’t help but care for him and feel for him because he wants to do the right things, but, for reasons, can’t. In many movies characters seek revenge for a wrongdoing, but never that I’ve ever seen on the level of this movie, and I don’t mean physically, but emotionally. I think the ending of the movie was just brilliant icing on a flawless cake and about as close to a perfect ending as I can imagine for the movie. Even the movie’s imagery (stuff that usually goes over my head) worked and didn’t seem forced or pretentious and added to the overall beauty. Add to all of that a wonderful acting job by Byung-hun Lee and this is top-notch movie-making and entertainment.

The movie is in Korean with English subtitles. I rate it a 10 of 10 and recommend it to everyone with a warning for extreme and graphic violence.

CJ Entertainment, premier distributeur de Corée du Sud, vient de tenir une conférence de presse concernant ses futures projets.

Outre des co-productions internationales avec la Chine, le Japon ou encore les USA, notre attention s’orientera plutôt côté remake américain.

En effet, le distributeur coréen vient de concéder les droits de A Bittersweet Life et de A Moment to Remember respectivement aux studios Fox Atomic et Sobini Films. Les deux excellents films devraient donc bientôt voir le jour à la sauce hollywoodienne.

Source : Filmsactu

Film making as it should be, A Bittersweet Life represents it’s core ideologies at every turn in both story and shot while being full of the finest Korean brutalist sequences – watch Sun-woo’s wardrobe as it alters through the running time to match his relationship with Kang and his own mental state, brilliantly accomplished cinema.

Lee Byung-hun es un asesino a sueldo que se enamora de la novia de su jefe en el elegante pero violento filme “A Bittersweet Life”. Un filme del director Kim Jee-woon, “A Bittersweet Life” es lo que las críticas coreanas han descrito como “Acción Negra”.

En ella, el director presenta la tradicional historia de gángsters coreana, presentando un trabajo con elegantes matices negros. Sun-woo es un ángel negro con sed de venganza. El líder de los Gángsters Kang le asigna a Sun-woo, que es su mano derecha, vigilar a su novia Hee-soo la cual es músico profesional mientras el está lejos y averiguar acerca del tipo con el cual el sospecha que ella tiene un affair. El argumento es complicado por la decisión existencial de Sun-woo de apartarse de las instrucciones explícitas que le fueron dadas. Enigmáticamente le dicen una y otra vez sobre mantener una promesa, pero él no sabe a qué se refieren exactamente…

Klart sevärd film, Sydkoreansk hårdkokt action. Slutet är nästan i Pulp Fictionklass. A Bittersweet Life från 2005 alltså.

I love trailers. I am actually sort of obsessed with them, and actively search for them on YouTube whenever I’m bored. I love how they hint at things and make things seem better than they actually are. (Well, a good trailer does that, anyway.) So why don’t we look at some Korean movie trailers?

A Bittersweet Life (This movie will forever remind me of La Dolce Vita, and vice versa, simply because of its title.)

Tazza (I will forever have a girl!crush on Kim Hye Soo because of this movie.)

See You After School (Ahh, I wanna rewatch this! It was so adorably funny.)

Crying Fist (Just. Plain. Awesome.)

The King and the Clown (Ahh, the good old days…)

Duelist (LOVE x infinity)

And movies that are yet to be released…on DVD:

Sunny (God, I can’t wait for this. There are far too few movies out there that show the women’s point of view on war.)

The Good, The Bad and the Weird (Doesn’t it look like SO MUCH FUN?)

Of all the movies I saw at last week’s film festival, I’ve now identified my clear favorite. But first I have to say I didn’t hate any of the movies I saw, although there was one that wasn’t completely my thing (it’s not a movie any of you recommended, so no fears there). I was delighted that I finally got to see My Wife Is a Gangster, and I can’t figure out why MWIG 2 is so readily available while MWIG 1 doesn’t seem to be available anywhere, even on Tiger Cinema the last I checked (shame on you, TC). MWIG 1 didn’t disappoint, although I was prepared to be disappointed since I’d been dying to see it for so long. High expectations, you know. But no. Hilarious movie.

But not my fave.

Trust me to go dark and pick a totally non-comedy gangster semi-redemption pic for my favorite film. The Raven Favorite Award for KOFFLA 2007 (that’s the festival’s abbreviation) goes to A Bittersweet Life.

If you haven’t seen this movie, SEE IT. But if you hate antiheroes, don’t see it, because Lee Byung Hun’s character is an antihero extraordinaire. But after years of being a ruthless, conscience-free mob enforcer, he suddenly encounters a situation where his conscience won’t let him follow orders, and the movie follows his journey from there. Dark, bloody, tense, and awesome. It can be hard to portray an antihero sympathetically and get into his mind so we can understand him (witness Michael Clayton, which I just saw… oops, I can’t talk about that here, it’s not Korean), but A Bittersweet Life manages it.

Not to sound shallow, but Lee Byung Hun is also total eye candy (I know he’s smiling in the pic, belying my claims that this is a dark flick, but don’t worry, he doesn’t smile much in the movie). But he could have been hot as all get out and I still wouldn’t have liked the movie if it had worked less well.

Also in the movie were Shin Min Ah and Lee Ki Young, both of whom have been mentioned here before. Lee Ki Young even got a whole post dedicated to him here. Despite what I said about him then, he clearly does get shoved into gangster roles a lot. And as for her, well, all I can say is she pulls off the sweet and innocent act with grace, but c’mon, how often do real gangsters end up with sweet, innocent mistresses? Of course, real gangsters probably don’t look like Lee Byung Hun either. Her character was necessary for the story. It worked well enough. I let it slide.

P.S. The photo is from english.chosun.com.

The 2007 Korean Film Festival is almost here! It starts tomorrow. Click for the schedule. And for synopses of the various films, go here and click on the film posters.

I’ll be at the panel discussion, and I’m currently planning on seeing the opening and closing films plus My Wife Is a Gangster (I’ve been dying to see that one forever, so there’s no way I’m missing it), Save the Green Planet (sounds funny), and A Bittersweet Life. I need to catch one or two more on Friday and Saturday, but I haven’t decided which yet. If anybody who doesn’t know me wants to say hi, look for the tallish white girl with dark hair and glasses and a press pass.

The festival is at the Fairfax 3, conveniently located on Beverly. Gotta love a theater named after a street it’s not on.

If any of you are going and want to do a guest review of any of the films, let me know.