A Dirty Carnival

You Reap what you Sow....
There has been an overflow of South Korean crime thrillers and even Hong Kong crime dramas have lost a lot of its gritty charisma. A DIRTY CARNIVAL is a crime thriller that has achieved something that other Korean thrillers have failed to do. Director/writer Yu Ha (Once upon a Time in High school) has delivered a crime thriller that is gritty, realistic, emotionally-driven with well-rounded characters that absolutely rivals the best crime dramas that seemed mixed in the usual Hong Kong grittiness with a bit of "Good Fellas" mixed in.

Byung-Doo Kim (Jo-In Seong) is a 29 year old petty gangster who is burdened with the responsibility of caring for an ailing mother, a brother who wants to become a gangster and his family is about to lose their home. He realizes that he cannot continue on like this and he has to also take care of his gang under gang Lieutenant Sang Chul (Yoon Jae Moon). Byung-Doo seizes the moment when the Gang's main Boss; Hwang (Jeon Ho-Jin) who is pestered...

If Crime Thrillers are Your Poison.....
...check this out. It's about as good as they get.

Byung-du is a lower level thug in the hoodlum ladder. He works for a mid-level thug. Neither he or his crew make that much money so his sick mom and his school tuition strapped sister aren't getting quite the attention they deserve. He sees an opportunity to move up and he grabs it. Things go well for him. More money and more prestige. Through all of this he is trying to woo a woman and help his novice, film-director friend make his first feature length film. Of course, the road to bliss isn't well paved and all good things must come to an end.

This is some great, nearly classic style film making. The characters are introduced and the story unfolds in such smooth fashion you can practically set your watch to it. The main character, Byung-du is very likable. He doesn't particularly like being a gangster but it's all he's good at. He's failed at every other job he's tried. And he likes his friends. The girl he's...

Probably the best Gangster film I've ever seen!!!!
This is what a gangster film she be like. Really good acting and lots "real" fight scenes. Jo In-Sung is really great and I was able to sympathize with his character.

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