No Blood No Tears

Third Windows Films

R2 DVD

Korean with English subtitles

Director Ryu Seung-Wan has given us a brilliant if tangled drama that has often been compared with English director Guy Ritchie’s best work. In many ways I think this film may be better than Ritchie’s work The plot is just as complex but the background of the Korean gangster mobs double crossing each other to retain power in an economic recession is brilliant. His characters are more down-to-earth and less comic. They are also more violent.

Gyung-sun is a struggling middle-aged taxi driver, trying to make ends meet while paying off her ex-husband’s gambling debt to a local easy-going mob bookie nicknamed KGB. She is no stranger to crime since she was once an accomplished safecracker, but that’s all in her past now.

Soo-jin is a young bimbo who wants to become a singer. She is the girlfriend of a small-time local mobster named Bulldog who runs illegal dogfights and pays a large amount of the take to his boss KGB. He beats Soo-jin regularly and has left her with a scar under one eye that will have to be fixed before she has any hope of a singing career. Meanwhile she wears sunglasses to hide the scar. She wants revenge and a career of her own that doesn’t involve being beaten by a drunk.

The gangs are being further squeezed by turf wars for the contracting profitable areas. There is a hilarious almost-fight scene between KGB’s thugs and a group of older gangsters called the United Handicapped Democrats for reasons that will only be clear once you see the film.

KGB is struggling to keep up the payments to his boss, who is urging him to be more violent in his treatment of gambling debt defaulters. It seems everyone all the way up the chain of command is feeling the pinch of a collapsing economy and it all seems to be piling up on Gyung-sun.

One night she meets Soo-jin and they swap stories. Soo-jin has an idea that might solve their problems, but she will need Gyung-sun’s help. Gyung-sun reluctantly agrees, but she has been beaten by one of the gang bosses and wants her revenge just like Soo-jin. Bulldog is soon going to run a rigged dogfight and there will be large amounts of money in the office. She has a way to steal the money from him. Unfortunately so do the other gang bosses. And a bunch of waiters who want their revenge on the gangsters. And a renegade junior mobster who has somewhat divided loyalties. Soo-jin and Gyung-sun do not quite trust each other either. The police are keeping an eye on all of them.

The stage is set for a truly complex set of battles as the money changes hands every few minutes. There is a bloody fight every few minutes as well, and that’s a lot of fights in a two-hour film. There is a little comedy to lighten the story but overall it becomes one almost continuous run of violence until the matter is finally (?) settled.

I liked the film and the quality acting. The characters are a little two-dimensional but this doesn’t really show with the fast pace of the film.

Reviews appear on the Synergy website with a single cover image. In the digital and print edition, reviews appear with multiple images and with expanded content.

This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 5 of the digital and print edition of Synergy.

We recommend you download the free digital edition (or buy the print edition) to get the most from Synergy. The print and digital editions of Synergy also include a large selection of articles and features not found on the website. If you have a limited download quota you can view the digital edition via the Issuu viewer on the digital edition page.

If you came to this page directly (and missed our menu), click here to go to the front page of Synergy Website or use the following link: http://www.synergy-magazine.com