Bloody Tie

Bloody Tie was my last movie for this year's Singapore International Film Festival, and although it's an action movie, I thought it ended my festival this year with a whimper rather than with a bang.

Set in the time of the IMF (not the Mission Impossible one) making loans to a South Korean economic collapse, the populace begins to turn to drugs for their bit of escapism. The worst hit city with plenty of drug addicts happen to be Busan, and for drug dealer Sangdo, this presents opportunity to make it to the big league. On the other side of the law, narcotics police detective Lieutenant Do, known for his unorthodox and violent prone techniques, takes Sangdo under his wing as his informal snitch.

But as all things go, it's a black eat black world, with cop and drug dealer striking up an uneasy partnership, each with their own agenda to leach on the other for their own selfish reasons, in their common quest to take down the new and current drug lord. Sounds like good stuff? That's what I thought too, until the pacing switched me off for the most parts. It's full of verbal bravado, and plenty of supporting characters adding absolutely nothing to further the story. Its runtime of almost 2 hours was not justified, and some sections could have been cut short to quicken things up. One of the few saving graces is its black humour, but other than that, it's pretty serious and sombre.

If you're interested, stay tuned until the end of the credits. But given the late night, the projectionist was too trigger happy to shut the projector off halfway through the scene. Pity.

Cleaving closely to the contours shaped by De Palma, Scorcese and Mann, "Bloody Tie" operates on a level rarely seen in Korean cinema. It transposes old-school Western ideals to the sinful port city of Busan and essentially becomes a hodgepodge of the gritty American crime potboilers replete with corruption in the ranks, perversely bankrupt codes of honour and lots of drug-fuelled thrusts into viciously muscular confrontations. Developing upon the similar tropes of buddy movies such as "48 Hrs." sans the forced male bonding, it pairs up two reprobates at opposite ends of the law who approach their line of work in the same, unconscionable way. Conducting itself with a bit of frantic, icily droll dick-swagger, the film still dares to stare deeper into the abyss than its thematic peers. Tunnelling under the shiny pastel surface of its pulsating city lights, a darkly poetic significance filters through the slithering hand-held camera-work, revealing the tenebrous tongue shared between its agents.

When I first heard about Bloody Ties (aka Bloody Tie) many reviewers were saying that it was the Bittersweet Life of 2006. I think that characterization is misleading. Kim Ji Woon's A Bittersweet Life is a much more serious, violent, and dark thriller, while Bloody Ties is less violent and is put together with a fair amount of dark humor. I think a better comparison to Bloody Ties would be Wook-Suk Kang's Public Enemy.

Anyway, Bloody Ties tells the story of a reckless cop Lieutenant Do (Expertly played by Jeong-min Hwang) and a crystal meth dealer named Ji-young (Ja-Hyeon Chu) who works as a informant for the police. The two form an unlikely partnership in order to take down a ruthless crime lord.

One of my favorite things about Bloody Ties is how it depicts the underground South Korean drug trade. This is the first film I'd seen from Korea that dealt at length with drug use in the underworld and it was refreshing and interesting to see a Korean film that delves into that.

The acting is another reason why I liked Bloody Ties. Jeong-min Hwang performance as Lieutenant Do was just too cool for words. Every time he made an entrance with the black aviators and a lit cigarette I couldn't help but smile. Ja-Hyeon Chu's performance as a crystal meth dealer, who never samples his own product, was also done very well. To be honest, I can't find fault with any of the performances of the film from the crime lord to Ji-Young's grandfather, this film features stellar performances for everyone involved.

All in All, Bloody Ties is a very entertaining and well developed film. The direction and cinematography is well done, the performances are awesome. And I loved how it mixed dark humor with violence. If you like a good crime thriller (as I do), than you should love Bloody Ties.

Both main actors deliver a great show here. The director tells us yet another cop-and-gangster drama, but thankfully he doesn't try to remake HARD BOILED korean style. Instead, he makes us laugh most of the time! The cop is dirty and crazy, his monologues are so funny, you wont stop laughing. All the flashback scenes are great, too. The style of the movie is kinda like SNATCH, sometime very hectic, but the camera did a great job - so did the musician. Groovy! Only the ending, damn, do korean movies always have to end so weird? All the movie is fun, until the end, then the movie changes its comedy style all of a sudden - not so good. But anyway, absolutely worth watching.

'Bloody Tie' is one of the most exhilarating action comedies from South Korea in 2006. The story revolves around a drug pusher and corrupt cop teaming up to bring down a powerful drug lord in Pusan. While the plot seems unoriginal, the film makes up for it with its unique and kinetic style, harking back to the old Hong Kong action flicks of the 80s. This is most evident in the title screen, a homage executed so perfectly that I was convinced this film could not have been made so recently.

One thing you'll notice within the first five minutes of watching this film is the crazy, borderline drug-induced cinematography. The camera-work is often frantic, with the cinematographer often utilizing hand-held photography and crash zooms with a touch of split screen now and then. On the flip side, the film also has some gorgeous shots of the port city of Pusan. This is especially evident in the movie's brilliant and very satisfying ending, one of my favorites of all time. Another thing that makes the ending so beautiful is the music. This film has such a fun soundtrack that oozes with coolness and puts you squarely in the time period.

The characters are also interesting enough to keep you engaged. Each are corrupt to the core and yet you can always find something sympathetic about them. Director Choi doesn't bother giving you a hero but instead brings you several anti-heroes who aren't very likable but they sure are cool. A lot of why this tactic works is due to the actors' great performances, in particular actress Ja-Hyeon Chu who actually manages to be the film's emotional core with only 20 minutes of screen time.

With such a refreshing visual style, hilarious black humor, and a dash of social commentary on the negative effects of the IMF financial crisis in South Korea, this stands as one of the best Korean films of 2006 and is well worth watching.