The Killers

This is a compendium of four short films by four Korean directors (Jung-Kwan Kim, Deok Roh, Hang-jun Chang and Myung-Se Lee), all dealing one way or another with, well, killers. As such, the film as a whole is uneven, with some parts working better than others. The first entry has to do with a gang of thugs, a man they're supposed to kill and an interceding vampire, quite rich in tone. The second, my favorite, features a trio of would-be assassins who get everything about their assignment wrong, from the place to murder, the vehicle the victim drives and the actual victim they're supposed to kill - very funny, and effective. The third film has to do with a mysterious serial killer whom the cops and professional hitmen are all after - the problem is that nobody knows who this killer is, except for the name and the fact that the killer has a specific tattoo in a specific place; here, the culprit is pretty easy to spot, but the story is well told. The final short film was the least effective, being terribly artistic and absurdist and going for all the coolest camera angles - unfortunately, there was no story there, just "artistic" ambience. I would have given the film 7 out of 10 were it not for the last one, but that reduced the film to a 6. Still, three out of four ain't bad!