I was still in my teens the first time I watched A Bittersweet Life, a time when I was expanding my movie watching beyond the realms of British and American film for the first time. I would walk into my local film shop and look through their world cinema section to see what new movie took my interest. I discovered a lot of amazing movies that way, and one that became one of my favourite films in both the gangster and revenge genres was 2005's A Bittersweet Life, directed by the renowned Kim Jee-woon. Despite having my DVD copy still on the shelf I jumped at the chance to watch it all over again with this new release, getting to experience this stunning film in a whole new way.
A Bittersweet Life tells the story of Sun-woo (Lee Byung-hun), a high-ranking mob enforcer who lives a decent, respectable life. Dressed in expensive suits, eating in fine restaurants, and doing everything his boss asks of him, he's the model gangster, even if his home life is that empty that he hasn't even unpacked the boxes in his apartment. When Sun-woo's boss leaves the city on an important business trip Sun-woo is given the important job of watching over his mistress, Hee-soo (Shin Min-ah), who he's worried might be having an affair with someone else.
Sun-woo spends time with Hee-soo, learns more bout her life, and even watches her at a music recital, where he is enthralled by her playing. He begins to develop feelings for the young woman, so when he catches her and her lover together he goes to perform his duty, attacking the man. However, when he takes out his phone to call his boss he can't bring himself to do it, swayed by Hee-soo's pleading. Having gone against his boss, however, puts Sun-woo directly in the crosshairs, and begins a brutal and bloody series of events.
The plot of A Bittersweet Life isn't the most surprising or original, and it's easy to predict early on where things are going to go. Someone tasked with guarding or watching someone they fall in love with and breaks the rules for is a classic story trope. Despite this, A Bittersweet Life never feels boring, and its sense of style, the quality of acting, and the beautiful presentation throughout make it an enthralling film.
Lee Byung-hun is the centre of the movie, and his performance is nothing short of stunning. When the film begins he's cold, detached, and stoic. It's hard to get any read off him, he keeps his cards close to his chest and presents a cool exterior that even other members of his crime family find hard to see through. However, as the film progresses we begin to see the humanity underneath. Despite his character not displaying much emotion you can see the moments where he's falling in love, you can see the subtle shift behind the eyes, the slightly lessening of the hard expression. Lee Byung-hun could easily play up these choices more, could make things more obvious, but it's the subtlety that makes him such a captivating watch.
The latter half of the film, when Sun-woo is turned on by his crime family, marks a stark shift in the almost beautiful tone of the first half. Where once we were watching a man with no real human connection learning to love and feel we see him pivot back into the violent, brutal enforcer that he used to be; albeit this time as a rogue agent out to survive and get revenge. Lee Byung-hun is frightening in these scenes, and the moment when Sun-woo quietly buttons up his suit jacket before heading to murder the people who betrayed him sends chills down the spine.
A Bittersweet Life is, as the name suggests a somewhat tragic movie. We watch Sun-woo come so close to discovering humanity, to understanding what love is, and it's brutally taken away from him. He's forced to become a brutal, even sadistic animal by a system that has shaped his entire life. And whilst you sit there watching it, urging him on to get his revenge, you can't help but feel like something beautiful has been lost. A Bittersweet Life is labelled as a ganger movie, a revenge film, and it's certainly those things, but it's also a tragedy, a film with way more heart and pathos that you first expect. Because of this, it's a movie that will appeal to so many different people. Those looking for a slick gangster movie will be happy, those wanting a brutal revenge film get that, and those who want to have an emotional rollercoaster that will leave you wanting to cry absolutely have that experience.
The new release from Second Sight comes with both a Blu-ray version of the film, as well as a 4K UHD disc. The movie, as well as all of the extra features, are available on both formats, and the picture quality has never been better. Having watched the film on DVD before there was still a noticeable difference in quality here, and the HD version of the movie looks so much crisper and sharper. There is also a couple of audio commentaries available for the film with cast and crew, one with Director Kim Jee-woon, Director of Photography Kim Ji-y and Set Designer Yoo Seong-hee, and another with Director Kim Jee-woon and Actors Kim Young-chul and Lee Byung-hun, both of which goes into the making of the film in a ton of detail. A third commentary features Pierce Conran and James Marsh who discuss their experiences with the movie, its impact on them, and on the cinema landscape in broader terms, along with going into the careers of those involved. All three commentary tracks are informative and entertaining to listen to, and each brings something different to the table.
Alongside the commentary tracks are archival featurettes that go into the music, sound, action, special effects, and other parts of the film that those who have had previous releases of the film will likely be familiar with. There are also a number of deleted and alternate scenes, which come with commentary too. A music video and trailers round out the rest of the on-disc extras. However, alongside this, the new release also comes with a number of new collectors art cards, and a slipcase featuring new art for the film; along with a 120 page booklet containing a number of new essays on the movie from experts in the field. The new release is packed full of extra features and things to discover that new and returning fans will have hours of content to discover.
It's a shame that A Bittersweet Life isn't more well known. Yes, it did exceptionally well outside of South Korea, and has a lot of international fans, but because it's a subtitled film it's still criminally overlooked by a lot of moviegoers. It deserves to be one of the most respected crime movies of all time, spoken about in the same conversation as The Godfather, Goodfellas, and Scarface. Hopefully, this new release will give more people a chance to discover this amazing piece of cinema.
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