My Wife is a Gangster 1
& 2
My Wife is a Gangster
Director: Cho Jin-gyu
Year: 2001
Rating: 7.5
Country: Korea
This is a film I would recommend as a good example
of a Korean film in which they play genre bumper cars by switching from one
to another within moments of each other. Now this isn't by any means a great
film though Korea has plenty of those - inventive films like Saving the Green
Planet, profound ones like J.S.A., full steam ahead action films like Shiri
or painfully sad ones like Christmas in August. But this is a spunky fun
film which blends these genres together in a seamless whole in which they
all make sense and are connected to each other. It has some laugh out loud
moments, drama, tough action fights, sentimental and poignant moments. And
they all work.
At a high level I would call this another Jopok comedy (Jopok translating
to organized violence group) as with the recent ones I saw in the Married
to the Mafia series - but it is much grittier than those films with less
sympathetic characters. Or maybe I would just call it a gangster film with
some comedy scenes sprinkled throughout. Either way I quite enjoyed much
of the film though it has a saggy middle section that could have used some
snipping. But it begins and ends with an action scene and that is always
a plus for me.
Eun-jin or as she is known to her enemies the Mantis is a number two boss
in an organized gang unit called the Scissors Gang who do the sorts of things
most gangs do - run nightclubs and girls, gather protection money and protect
their territory. How a woman came into this position is never clearly explained
but she is not one who depends on feminine wiles of which she has none -
she is as sweet as a mouthful of glass shards. A legendary fighter with her
deadly blades. Short haired, a disdainful expression rarely leaving her face,
dressed in black, called Big Brother by her followers and ready to smack
down anyone who gets out of line or insults her. And her men hold her in
great esteem.
She has one soft spot. Her sister who seems to be dying from a disease. Her
sister asks her for one favor before she passes on - that she sees her sister
get married. And the comedy breaks in as Eun-jin tries to find a husband
and brings in a trashy hostess to show her how to attract a man. It doesn't
go well - until they come across the very genial not very handsome Soo-il
who has had over fifty blind dates with not a nibble - she gives him a nibble
but not much else and they are married completing her promise. Or so she
thinks. The sister then says and a daughter before I die. And again the specialist
is brought in on how to turn her husband on. Eun-ji who has refused her husband
sex up to this point and beats the hell out of him when he tries now starts
raping him - always on top - always clothed. Time after time - on elevators,
on restaurant tables. Meanwhile the vicious White Shark gang is trying to
move in and its back to business.
Shin Eun-kyung who plays Mantis is fabulous in this film - her very deep
philtrum making her so distinct - rarely showing a shred of decency but honorable
in her way - loyal to her men and eventually even accepting of her husband.
She is a pleasure to watch. Looking at her resume she seems to mainly be
in TV but she did return for My Wife is a Gangster 2.
My Wife is a Gangster 2
Director: Jeong Heung-sun
Year: 2003
Rating: 6.0
Country: Korea
I guess the first film did well enough so that they made a sequel, again
starring the wonderful Shin Eun-kyung as the deadly female Mafia boss Eun-jin
or The Mantis. The film begins with a huge rooftop rumble in which Eun-jin
is kicked off the roof to fall many floors below onto a passing mattress
truck and then bounces onto another passing chicken truck to which she later
falls off covered in chicken feathers and obtains the nickname Chicken Butt.
The film takes an unexpected turn at this point into a total comedy until
the final fifteen minutes of the film. Perhaps they felt there was no point
in going in the same direction as the first film and so they not only take
her out of that milieu but basically forget about her husband who never shows
up here other than in a photo.
Eun-jin is found by a passing drunk who owns a small restaurant and he literally
drags her home. Two years later and she has no idea who she is and has been
working in Jae-cheol's (Park Jun-gyu) eatery ever since. She tries to recollect
her memory in a few ways - wires into an electric socket, standing in a lightning
storm with a metal umbrella, seeing a Buddhist monk and a hypnotist who gets
scared out of his life by the things she says under hypnosis. Nothing works,
but she is basically happy with her life - smiling, laughing, making friends
with the neighbors who all love her. She wonders why she is so incredibly
quick with a knife in the kitchen and can do somersaults ("maybe I was in
a circus") - but life isn't bad at all. Then in a bank one day she is waiting
when three robbers come in and demand money and began kicking a pregnant
woman and her instincts kick in. How the hell did she do that, she wonders
as the thieves lay groaning on the ground. All this of course has to come
to an end eventually. Especially when her foe from the last film the White
Shark recognizes her and wants her dead.
It is for the most part a sweet genial charming low key slow moving comedy
- quite a turnaround from the first film and it is nice seeing Shin Eun-kyung
smile and laugh! She can do it! On its own merits this was an enjoyable film
but don't go in expecting it to be much like the first one. Still you get
oodles of Shin Eun-kyung - way more than in the first film. At the very end
you will notice a quick cameo from Zhang Ziyi spectacularly adorned in a
sleek red pantsuit - as a rival Chinese triad boss. She had been signed to
do the third in the series but things must have fallen through because the
third My Wife is a Gangster has nothing to do with the first two but instead
revolves around the daughter of a triad boss who goes to hide in Korea. It
doesn't star Zhang but it does star Shu Qi so not so bad. I saw this years
ago and quite enjoyed it. But I should mention that Shu Qi is pretty high
up on my list of perfect women.
