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A Bittersweet Life

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A Bittersweet Life (2005)

April. 01,2005
|
7.5
| Drama Action Crime
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Kim Sun-woo is an enforcer and manager for a hotel owned by a cold, calculative crime boss, Kang who assigns Sun-woo to a simple errand while he is away on a business trip; to shadow his young mistress, Hee-soo, for fear that she may be cheating on him with a younger man with the mandate that he must kill them both if he discovers their affair.

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Dotsthavesp
2005/04/01

I wanted to but couldn't!

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UnowPriceless
2005/04/02

hyped garbage

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Bereamic
2005/04/03

Awesome Movie

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Bumpy Chip
2005/04/04

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

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Prashast Singh
2005/04/05

Movie: A Bittersweet Life (18)Rating: 4/5I've previously said this: Kim Jee-Woon is my favourite South Korean director and Lee Byung-hun, my favourite South Korean actor. Thus seeing their combo once again after the mindblowing action thriller I SAW THE DEVIL, I was excited to see this movie. And I was highly impressed with this standard of filmmaking. Not every director manages to achieve what Kim has, through this film.A BITTERSWEET LIFE is an example of cinematic excellence which is beyond imagination. The film's quite entertaining, of course but it touches a chord down there in your heart: eventually making you feel for the lead character. Lee Byung-hun plays it very well like he does in most of his films. He's a master actor and this needs to be said again and again as everyone knows.Director Kim's direction deserves a special mention as without his powerful, imaginative and creative vision, the film won't have achieved what it did. From the screenplay to editing to action to dialogues to performances: there's nothing that will disappoint you actually. The action sequences are mindblowing and have the "classic" tag all over them. You'll love to play them on loop, and I'm not joking. Seriously. The film's dialogues too are a major strength and there are many you'll remember forever. A BITTERSWEET LIFE is indeed a masterpiece and Kim's gift to the entire world. Watch it, you'll love this action drama for sure. Make sure to catch it on a Blu-ray.

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taylorb1221
2005/04/06

This is my first review on here, only because I felt compelled to tell someone about this film… When I say "coolest," I don't mean it in a that-movie-was-really-cool kind of way… Coolest, in this case, means that it is the smoothest, well-crafted, stylish, and beautiful films I have ever seen. Everything about the film has a you'll-never-be-this-cool feel, like Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction. Not to mention the fact that it has the same sort of humor.Now, I am a film student who has actually gotten a lot of praise from students and teachers and whatnot for my first film project… That's great and all, but after seeing this film I am reminded of what Steven Spielberg said after he saw The Godfather; "I guess I should quit now, because I will never make something this good." I am, in no way, comparing myself to Spielberg, I'm just describing the feeling of, "holy s***, this is amazing," and "wow, I could never do this ever…"See this movie before you die… Or before it gets remade.

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drpavlovic1411
2005/04/07

When you see so many good reviews,you ask yourself: hmm...did we see the same movie????!!! 'The best Korean movie ever', 'fantastic'... It can be that I watched some other movie???!!This movie is totally predictable. From the start you know who will make the hell of life to our hero, you could see what kind of boss our hero has..., the task what he gets can be end up only in two ways... Everything has been seen so many times.I must admit that this movie is real,close to the real life,it is not that the main character can beat 1000 guys with one kick,but..., who knows, maybe with some more fantastic fight scenes the movie would be more interesting. This way, you can predict almost the whole movie. The ones who consider this is the best Korean movie ever..., they obviously haven't seen enough Korean movies and their excellent cinematography.The sum: a movie's goal is not to be totally unpredictable, always to give some new perspective, to have some great scenes..., but this one is nothing but a gangster cliché. To obey to your boss entirely, or not? It is so normal when somebody reaches the point when it is not so easy to obey 100%, the reason is not important. Even the punch line: How did we get to this point and why? is not so impressive, because every 'why' has its reason. So, this movie can be depicted as NOT ENOUGH of anything which is important for a good movie (it doesn't matter if we seek for a deep movie, a good action or some other kind of movie).

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Desertman84
2005/04/08

A Bittersweet Life is one hell of a bad-ass classic gangster film. It has a great mix of action,drama and violence in it. It is a story of a gangster who realizes that he cannot live a life of his own. Sun Woo, a unique character with a curious lifestyle – he's not only a valued gang member and the proprietor of a hotel bar, but also the right-hand man to the powerful gang leader, Mr. Kang. When Kang suspects that his beautiful young mistress Hee Soo might be messing around with another man, he enlists Sun Woo's help to resolve the matter, commanding him to follow her around to see what information he can dig up. Sun Woo's orders are explicit: if he catches Hee Soo cheating, he is to execute her – no ifs ands or buts about it. However, when Sun Woo spies Hee Soo with her boyfriend, he makes a stunning decision, one that will have major consequences for all involved! The viewer may focus too much on the action scenes but the movie is much more than that. This movie shows the pains of being a member of a merciless crime organization,as one is beholden to the crime boss for the rest of his life, will continue to live without any choices of his own. Apart from that, it provides another perspective to the viewer that being a gangster is not cool and no fun whatsoever.The acting is great.Lee Byung-Hun is supremely talented that he can take a great film into another level. Shin Min-a provides the film some great moments despite of her limited time on screen. The direction was awesome as well. The action scenes does not feel artificial and fabricated at all since they all seem believable and real. This is definitely an Asian masterpiece. A must-see and a highly recommended film.

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