'A Bittersweet Life' (2005)

Genre: Action, Crime, and Drama

Director: Jee-woon Kim

Writer: Jee-woon Kim

Editor: Jae-geun Choi

Cinematographer: Ji-yong Kim

Rated: R

In my Film Criticism class, we watched the Korean movie, 'A Bittersweet Life'.  'A Bittersweet Life' is about Sunwoo, who works in an expensive hotel and part of the mob.  One day, his boss orders him to follow the boss' girlfriend, Heesoo, and make sure she's not seeing anyone while he's away for business.  Sunwoo falls in love with Heesoo and makes decisions that buried him alive, literally.  After his slump, he recovered and plan his revenge.

 Kim Jee-Won directed and wrote the film.  Lee Byun-Hun stars in it, and to my opinion he did a great job!  He expressed the emotions Sunwoo feels during each scene well, which helped me to emphases with the character, Sunwoo.  The film was made in 2005, which you can tell by the phones they use~  In this post, I’ve written about what I liked about the film and things I learned or saw that might need explaining.  

This post contains Spoilers, so please read the post with that in mind.  I recommend watching this first, or if you prefer to read this and then watch it, it’s ok with me. I hope you watch the film though.

             I’m a huge fan of Asian Films and TV shows.  ‘A Bittersweet Life’ is an example of why I love Asian Entertainment industry.

I always like a good fight scene.  In ‘A Bittersweet Life’, I loved all the fight scenes.  In the beginning, when a disturbance in the hotel leads Sunwoo into a fight, the fighting hooked me into the film.  Sunwoo controlled his feelings well, but when he meets Heesoo, his human side comes out.  Sunwoo’s world falls apart once he shows his human side.  The scene when Sunwoo met Baek at the ice skating ring confused me.  It surprised me how Baek stabbed Sunwoo so easily.  Since Sunwoo worked in the business for so long, I thought he would foresee the attack.

Sunwoo’s clothes represent the change Sunwoo experienced through the film.  In the beginning, Sunwoo wore a suit and tie.  He dressed properly and professionally, but when he hung out with Heesoo, he removed his tie.  Sunwoo lowers his guard hoping he appeared more casual with her.  When a gang attacked Sunwoo in his apartment, he wore sweats.  His usually armor, the suit, gone which left him vulnerable.  At Sunwoo’s lowest point in the film, he wears a normal shirt and cargo pants, displaying Sunwoo’s lost confidence and the fears for his life to a point where he pukes.  When Sunwoo plans his revenge, he obtains his suit.  He transforms into his put together self, minus his usual tie. Visually, Sunwoo regains his composure and dignity, but discarding the tie indicated he accepted his human emotions also.

Sunwoo worked in the hotel/gang business for a long time which created detachment from his human emotions.  When Kang orders Sunwoo to follow Heesoo around, Sunwoo watches from a far, behind a cage.  A wall/cage in between Sunwoo and Heesoo shows how detached Sunwoo’s current self is from his human side.  Sunwoo interacts only with people involved in his work.  Sunwoo’s life revolves around work.  In his apartment, we see boxes stack on top of each other which demonstrate when Sunwoo moved, he focused more on work.  He returns home only when he refreshes himself and sleeps.  Sunwoo sees Heesoo live a normal human life, unlike him.  Sunwoo falls in love with her because she showed him what a life outside his profession would look like or if you accept your human side.  The metaphor of the trees represents life.  Trees appeared everywhere: in the hotel, in President Kang’s bathroom and present, a tree lamp, and the tree at Heesoo’s house represent the separated trait from Heesoo and the others.  The difference between the trees associated with the hotel and President Kang from the one outside Heesoo’s house signifies the trees as artificial with its placement in an unnatural setting.  Heesoo’s tree outside her house shows her nurturing side.  President Kang likes her because she makes him appear more normal; not a person associated with a dangerous career. Through Heesoo’s nurturing and nonjudgmental personality, President Kang sees himself as a less horrible person. While Sunwoo tries convincing himself and Heesoo he is a normal person who works at a hotel.  Heesoo represents Sunwoo’s desire for a normal life with her; a desire realized when he met her.

The soundtrack works extremely well with the film.  I love the soundtrack and how ‘A Bittersweet Life’ uses the music in complimenting the film.  The soundtrack signifies the film with sad and uplifting sounds; the music gives a bittersweet sound, which represents Sunwoo’s life.  The classical music contradicts the violence in the film, but the two elements were beautifully intertwined with one another. 

Scenes from ‘A Bittersweet Life’ echoed scenes from ‘The Raid 2’ directed by Gareth Evans.  In ‘The Raid 2’, an important character died with his blood flowing in the snow.  In ‘A Bittersweet Life’, when Baek’s dead body lie on the ice skating ring, his blood spreads on the white ice ground.  Towards the end, Sunwoo walks through the hotel as he kills people along the way.  The main character in ‘The Raid 2’ also fights people as he goes up the hotel’s floors.  When the main character reaches the top floor, a climatic fight scene occurs with gunshots going off in the hotel with the main antagonists.  When watching ‘A Bittersweet Life’, Sunwoo initiates a vast gunshot showdown; the scene reminded me of the scene from ‘The Raid 2’.  The scene’s fight choreography in the hotel, along with the hotel set; evokes a similar aspect to the end fight scene in ‘The Raid 2’.

In ‘A Bittersweet Life’, when Sunwoo kills the Gun Owner, a new character appears.  Moon, the Gun Owner’s close friend (perhaps his brother), finds the Owner dead along with his lackeys.  From Sunwoo’s action, Moon establishes his own revenge on killing the person who killed his people.  In ‘The Raid 2’, other characters’ storylines and purposes show up in the film.  Plots from past scenes lead toward the final moments in the film.  I like how Kim Jee-Won involves a side character into the plot which results from Sunwoo’s action.  Towards the end, we see Moon arrive at the hotel, which foreshadows how Moon’s part will directly affect Sunwoo’s plan. Sunwoo meets Moon when he finally kills Sunwoo.

I enjoyed the director Kim Jee-Won’s interesting shots in the film.  The way he composed the shots made the scene look visually appealing. For example, the shot when Sunwoo walked down corridors, he placed in a symmetrical fashion, displayed in other scenes in the comparison with the characters, Kang and Sunwoo.  Kang’s and Sunwoo’s personalities form symmetrical to each other, like a Father-Son relationship.

Sunwoo’s narration towards the end tells the story about the Monk and his student.  The student confided in the Monk about his dream. The dream caused the student’s tears when he woke up. The Monk asked why the student cried.  The student explained how he dreamt a nice, sweet dream, but the dream will never come true.  The student’s dream represents a Bittersweet dream, which corresponds with Sunwoo’s thoughts about Heesoo before he dies.  A tear falls from Sunwoo’s eyes when he thinks about her. A life with Heesoo symbolizes a dream he cannot obtain.  The narration went well with the film’s theme, a bittersweet life.

Overall, ‘A Bittersweet Life’ shows the same elements Revenge films show in the Asian films I have seen before.  A plot about how a man falls in love with a girl involved with the wrong people, and then the main guy involves himself which results in revenge or a mission.  ‘A Bittersweet Life’ succeeded in displaying a revenge and noir genre; I highly enjoyed and loved the film.

I highly recommend you to watch 'A Bittersweet Life'~!