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Nowhere Man (2019)
Long waited HK noir style is back
As a big fan of the 90s HK filmes, this was a nice retro style series. It has traditional themes including gangster crime, brotherhood, and lust. The vivid colour and selection of mindblowing sound tracks were excellent to bring back the old good days of HK cinema.
I was surprised to see that this series was made in Taiwan and wish that it could be only a begining of seeming more like this good piece of work from the mandarin producers. The story could be quite banal or mixed up side down. Maybe it was intended so as its title suggests in Mandarin.
For the originality of cinematography and characters were good enough to make me nostalgic about Wang Kar Wei. I cannot wait to see any similar works to be released soon.
Dalkomhan insaeng (2005)
masterpiece turning violence into beauty
When I first watched this film, it was incredible to find it as a Korean movie, especially a story about gangsters. It would be a tragic mistake to take this movie as a common Asian film noir; its style is totally different and it is worth seeing no less than twice. I could understand better what the director wanted to say in this film after watching it again with his commentaries.
Many scenes depicting violence and fights are well placed in the film to describe subtle emotional changes of the hero (Byung-hun LEE) and the unexpected situation that he encounters. However, the director describes them very delicately as beautiful photos sometimes very romantic, which is far from bloody gunfights that we expect from a gangster movie. Especially the use of the light is very sensitive and original. Indeed, the director has an extraordinary aesthetic sense.
A bittersweet life is a story of one man quite unaccustomed to accept any possibilities of deviation from his own self-concept. He tries to ignore even feelings he has for the boss' girl though it is seen from his behaviors. When his boss lynches him for that reason, he denies it and he takes it as if his boss is insulting him. The second half of the film turns into a vengeance against his boss and his sidekicks. The ending scene is considered as an answer to the question that has been posed since the hero met his boss' girl.
I think this film is the best film noir from Korea.