A Bittersweet Life
| A Bittersweet Life | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Hangul | |
| Hanja | 달콤한 |
| Revised Romanization | Dalkomhan insaeng |
| McCune–Reischauer | Talk‘omhan insaeng |
| Directed by | Kim Jee-woon |
| Produced by |
Park Dong-ho Eugene Lee |
| Written by | Kim Jee-woon |
| Starring |
Lee Byung-hun Kim Yeong-cheol Shin Min-ah Hwang Jung-min Kim Roi-ha Lee Ki-young |
| Music by |
Jang Young-gyu Dalparan |
| Cinematography | Kim Ji-yong |
| Edited by | Choi Jae-keun |
| Distributed by | CJ Entertainment |
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Release date
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Running time
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120 minutes |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean Russian Filipino |
| Box office | US$7,582,393 |
| A Bittersweet Life Original Soundtrack | |
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| Soundtrack album | |
| Released | April 7, 2005 |
| Genre | Soundtrack |
| Label | Pony Canyon (Korea) |
A Bittersweet Life (Hangul: 달콤한 인생; RR: Dalkomhan insaeng; lit. "The Sweet Life") is a 2005 South Korean gangster action drama film written and directed by Kim Jee-woon and starring Lee Byung-hun.
Two versions of the film exist, the original theatrical version and the director's cut. The director's cut's edits include slight cutting and re-arrangement of scenes, swapping music placement and some additional scenes that do not appear in the original version of the film.
Kim Sun-woo (Lee Byung-hun) is a high ranking mobster and enforcer for Kang (Kim Yeong-cheol), a cold and calculating crime boss to whom he is unquestionably loyal. The two share concerns over business tensions with Baek Dae-sik (Hwang Jung-min), a son from a rival family, which is when Kang assigns Sun-woo what is perceived to be a simple errand while he is away on a business trip — to shadow his young mistress, Hee-soo (Shin Min-ah), whom he fears is having an "affair" with another man, giving Sun-woo the mandate to kill her (and her paramour) if he manages to discover it. As he performs his duty — following Hee-soo, and escorting her to a music recital one day — he becomes quietly enthralled by the girl's beauty and innocence as glimpses into his lonely, empty personal life become more prevalent. When he does come to discover Hee-soo's lover directly in her home, he fiercely beats him and prepares to inform Kang, but his attraction to her causes him to hesitate. He thus spares the two on the condition that they no longer see each other again, earning him Hee-soo's enmity.
Meanwhile, Sun-woo continues to be embroiled in personal business with Baek Dae-sik over having beaten up several of his henchmen earlier for overstaying their welcome at the hotel. He is then threatened by one of his enforcers to apologize, but he adamantly refuses, fueled by his frustrations over Hee-soo. As he relaxes in his apartment later one night, he is suddenly kidnapped by Baek's men to be tortured, but before they can do so they receive new orders via phone call and he is abruptly carried off to Kang, who has returned from overseas and has found out about his attempted cover-up of Hee-soo's affair. Kang's men torture him into confessing why he lied until he is left alone to think about his answer. A daring but messy escape follows, after which Sun-woo plans his revenge.
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