The Gangster, the Cop, the
Devil
Director: Lee Won-tae
Year: 2019
Rating: 7.5
Country: Korea
More
than any other film industry, Korean films can make violence and death look
like art. Images from films like Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and The Isle
still stick with me many years after seeing them. There is a shot here that
felt that way. After a big gang fight, one of the men has a long blade sticking
out of his chest as he lies on the ground and the camera looks from above
at the man below, his white shirt soaked with blood, one man standing next
to him lighting up a cigarette, another man who stabbed him sitting on the
ground his back turned to the horror of what he just did and the scene is
shot in bright light over to the right that dims as it gets closer to the
dead man. A stunning moment in a very violent film that looks beautiful throughout
- the neon lighting, the narrow streets, the classy interiors, the illegal
gaming shops and the pulp where a face used to be.
Violence erupts easily and often - everybody
seems to hit someone at some point. It can be for a minor infraction within
the gang world which gets a slap or a gut punch or the cops beating up on
the gangsters with impunity. It is graphic and realistic but in this world
of cops and criminals it is a way of life and no one seems to hold it against
you. It is nothing personal. Then there is the serial killer. His killings
are not personal either. Just random and brutal. He just likes killing up
close with a knife. The gangster is Jang who likes to run a tidy ship. When
it goes off course, he uses his fists as big as hams to bring order. When
we are first introduced to him, he is working out on a punching bag. Getting
in his exercise. Then we realize there is a person inside the bag when it
is unzipped to show what is left of his face. He is played by the terrific
Ma Dong-seok who was born to play these kind of tough bad-ass roles. All
bristle and fear.
The cop is Tae-seok (Kim Mu-yeol) with his
punk fuck you attitude. He begins to suspect there is a serial killer when
he notices that two cars of victims had been hit in the back. That is the
serial killer's (Heo Dong-won) M.O. - hit their car leading the other driver
to leave his car to share insurance - and get murdered, but one night he
picks the wrong victim - Jang - who fights back and survives with a debt
to be paid back. None of the cops believe Tae-seok and so he teams up with
the man who does, the gangster and they go into a partnership. The cop and
Jang's entire gang combing through the city for a killer. It gets quite intense
and the director Lee Won-tae doesn't waste a minute on anything personal
or romantic entanglements. It is all forward motion with stopovers for violence.
