IMDb RATING
7.5/10
43K
YOUR RATING
Things go wrong for a high ranking mobster when he doesn't follow his boss's orders.Things go wrong for a high ranking mobster when he doesn't follow his boss's orders.Things go wrong for a high ranking mobster when he doesn't follow his boss's orders.
- Awards
- 8 wins & 14 nominations
Kim Yeong-cheol
- Mr. Kang
- (as Kim Young-Chul)
Hwang Jung-min
- President Baek
- (as Jeong-min Hwang)
Kim Roe-ha
- Mun-suk
- (as Roe-ha Kim)
Kim Hae-gon
- Weapon smuggler
- (as Hae-gon Kim)
Eric Moon
- Gun Dealer's Brother
- (as Eric)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe Korean title "Dalkomhan Insaeng" and the name of the bar "La Dolce Vita" translate to "The Sweet Life". As an ironic touch the International English title is called "A Bittersweet Life".
- GoofsToward the end of the film, when Kim Sun-woo is walking down the corridor searching for his former boss, a guard sitting and reading a newspaper gets up to stop him. Kim Sun-woo shoots him but his gun is not pointed at the guard. Rather, it is clearly pointed at the wall where fake blood appears after the shot like a paint gun.
- Quotes
Sun-woo: One late autumn night, the disciple awoke crying. So the master asked the disciple, "Did you have a nightmare?" "No." "Did you have a sad dream?" "No," said the disciple. "I had a sweet dream." "Then why are you crying so sadly?" The disciple wiped his tears away and quietly answered, "Because the dream I had can't come true."
- Alternate versionsTwo versions of the film exist, the original theatrical version and the director's cut. The director's cut's edits include slight cutting and re-arrangement of scenes, swapping music placement and some additional scenes that do not appear in the original version of the film.
- ConnectionsReferences La Dolce Vita (1960)
Featured review
Another breathtaking revenge movie from South-Korea
I had the luck to watch this gem at the Fantasy-Film-Festival in Frankfurt yesterday. It was shown in a theater with about 600 seats and against my expectations the room was packed with people.
In comparison with Oldboy or Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance the story is not as deep and goes more straightforward to the pure revenge theme. But this does not make the movie less enjoyable. The cinematography is brilliant and the main-character delivers a great performance. It contains beautifully choreographed martial-arts and gunfight scenes with references to masterpieces like Taxi Driver and Kill Bill.
Despite the fact it is very harsh in some scenes the humor does not come to short. The scene with a discussion of Korean-Russian wannabe-gangsters made me nearly wet my pants.
In comparison with Oldboy or Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance the story is not as deep and goes more straightforward to the pure revenge theme. But this does not make the movie less enjoyable. The cinematography is brilliant and the main-character delivers a great performance. It contains beautifully choreographed martial-arts and gunfight scenes with references to masterpieces like Taxi Driver and Kill Bill.
Despite the fact it is very harsh in some scenes the humor does not come to short. The scene with a discussion of Korean-Russian wannabe-gangsters made me nearly wet my pants.
helpful•7325
- raweater
- Aug 14, 2005
Details
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $10,080,808
- Runtime1 hour 59 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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