The 30ties in the Mandchurian desert. The Weird steals a map from a japanese official. The Bad is paid to get it back. The Good is a bounty hunter who tracks them down. In this unpredictable, escalating battle for the map and the men, who will stand in the end as the winner? —Cannes Film Festival
Kim Jee-woon, born July 6, 1964, entered Seoul Institute of the Arts, but left school and worked in the theatre scene. He began his career as a stage actor, then stage director, and finally has become one of the most popular and acclaimed figures among modern Korean directors/screenwriters. His second screenplay, The Quiet Family (1998), won him the Best Screenplay prize in a local contest, and Kim went on to make his directorial debut with this screenplay. The film was invited to many film festivals. Kim’s films, from The Quiet Family (1998) to last year’s A Bittersweet Life, have been hailed by critics and audiences alike for his unique style and storytelling. His second feature, The Foul King (2000), drew more than 2 million spectators, while his astounding horror film of true visual elegance, A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), reached 3.5 million viewers nation-wide. It went on to be remade by Dreamworks in the US. —AsianMediaWiki
Infarcito di fantastiche citazioni,Jee Woon rimane fedele al suo stile come in Bittersweet Life:dinamismo sfrenato,un gusto per l'eccesso,favolosi movimenti e grandiosa fotografia.Tecnicamente la regia è meravigliosa e regala sequenze da applausi:la rapina in treno,l'inseguimento nel deserto(Misunderstood...), la sparatoria nel mercato fantasma.Il matto ruba la scena, al contrario dell originale.Da vedere.4*
STREPITOSO, girato alla grandissima da Jee-Woon, il film è pieno di omaggi al western leoniano (dal titolo, ai movimenti di camera virtuosi ma attenti ai primissimi piani) e gode di un'estetica perfetta, di uno stile sopra le righe che ricorda quello tarantiniano (d'altronde che il regista apprezzi Tarantino è palese sia qui sia nel bellissimo Bittersweet Life). Colonna sonora stupenda e ritmo alle stelle. 5*
Lot's of fun, with epic scale and some laughs here and there. I had a smile on my face the whole time as this was a nice take on the genre. I would have to say Kim Ji-woon is probably one of my favourite Korean directors.
While TCM's festival runs on through the weekend, Los Angeles has a couple of other classic numbers playing as well. The Nuart
It’s amazing what Kim accomplished to do in this film.First of all,he made this a ton more entertaining than the original.This film runs just under 135 minutes.There was not a minute when I got bored… read review
What I would deem a kimchi western, this is liberally inspired by Leone. From there, it takes it into all sorts of crazy directions with its mass lot of zany characters. Genre-bending of this sort… read review