Nabbeun namja (2001)

Director:

Ki-duk Kim

Writer:

Ki-duk Kim

Release Date:

11 February 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Trapped in a world of pleasure and pain ...

Plot:

In busy downtown Seoul, a thuggish young man notices a fresh-faced college student who sits on a bench...

Plot Keywords:

Bench | College Student | Seoul | Soldier | Boyfriend Girlfriend Relationship

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Jae-hyeon Jo	...	Han-ki
Won Seo	...	Sun-hwa
Yun-tae Kim	...	Yun-tae
Duek-mun Choi	...	Myeong-su
Yoon-young Choi	...	Hyun-ja
Yoo-jin Shin	...	Min-jung
Jung-young Kim	...	Eun-hye
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gung-Min Nam	...	Hyun-su

Directed by
Ki-duk Kim

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ki-duk Kim

Produced by
Seung-beom Kim	....	executive producer
Seung-jae Lee	....	producer

Original Music by
Ho-jun Park

Cinematography by
Cheol-hyeon Hwang

Film Editing by
Seong-won Hang

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Chang-ho Cho	....	assistant director

Production Companies

• LJ Film
• Prime Entertainment

Distributors

• Vanguard Cinema (2000) (worldwide) (all media)
• Bright Angel Distribution (2003) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Lifesize Entertainment (2005) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• SPO (Japan) (theatrical)
• Tartan (2003) (UK) (theatrical)
• CJ Entertainment
• Lifesize Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• MTV Netherlands (2007) (Netherlands) (TV)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Raro Video (2007) (Italy) (DVD) (boxed set)
• Tartan Video (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• Total Film Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2009) (Argentina) (DVD)
• e-m-s the DVD-Company (2005) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Bad Guy" - International (English title) (imdb display title)
"Плохой парень" - Russia
"Bad Guy" - Argentina (DVD title)
"Bad Guy" - Greece (imdb display title)
"Bad Guy" - France (DVD title)
"Parittaja" - Finland (imdb display title)
"Warui otoko" - Japan (imdb display title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Norway:15 | Italy:VM18 (DVD) (self-applied) | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:R21 | South Korea:18 | UK:18 | Hong Kong:III

Company:

LJ Film

Soundtrack:

I tuoi fiori

Love can make a man insane.

This is not the best of movies, but I rank it high because it did it for me. Though the characters are not really presented to the viewer, they are developed through the movie by showing their actions. The plot is not really important here, and people that cling to whatever feminist or political agendas when discussing a movie are wasting everybody's time. It reminds me of an old Italian movie, I can't remember the name or actors because I've seen it when I was a kid, with a mafia boss that falls in love with a woman, kidnaps her but wants to charms her, rather that rape her. This is also about a generally violent man who's attention is captured by a beautiful girl and he also wants access to her soul, rather than her body.

The movie is full of contrasts and paradoxes, but what sets it apart is the atmosphere (I had my heart pumping a good part of the movie, without it being an action movie or anything) and the subtle way it reveals the deep needs of every character.

Its bad part, though, is that close to the end you keep expecting the movie to end and it doesn't. The slow pace of the movie doesn't help either, so a feeling of "is it over yet?" can easily set in.

I liked it, I recommend it to people who have the mood to see a psychological Asian movie about gangsters, prostitutes and the power of love.