Kim Young-cheol Movies

Director/screenwriter Park Jin-pyo crafts this emotionally pointed docudrama based on the 1991 kidnapping of a young South Korean boy whose abductor sadistically taunted the child's parents over the course of a grueling, month-long period. Television news anchorman Han Kyung-bae and his devoutly religious, stay-at-home wife Oh Ji-sun both love their timid, nine year old son Hwang-sun as much as any devoted mother and father would. Though the rigorous exercise regiment and strict diet they subject the reticent child to may seem harsh to the casual observer, all they want is for him to shed some extra weight so he'll live a long and happy life. The doting parents find their lives turned upside down in an instant however when one day, Hwang-sun vanishes without a trace. Their worst fears are confirmed when, shortly thereafter, Hwang-sun's abductor calls to demand a sizeable ransom. Though Han Kyung-bae and his wife are willing to pay any amount of money to ensure their child's safe return, the exchange proves unexpectedly complicated as a parent's worst nightmare slowly snowballs into tragedy. Over the course of the next forty-four days, the frighteningly calm and confident kidnapper taunts the grieving parents with a series of relentlessly cruel telephone calls, gradually drawing Han Kyung-bae and Oh Ji-sun's failures, mistakes, and regrets out into the open while forcing them to endure a slow-burning hell of misery and despair. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Writer/director Kim Jee-woon followed up his hit horror film, A Tale of Two Sisters, with this violent crime drama, A Bittersweet Life. Sun-woo (Lee Byeong-heon of Joint Security Area) is a devastatingly effective, but businesslike enforcer for Mr. Kang (Kim Young-cheol), a mob boss who owns La Dolce Vita, the Seoul nightclub where Sun-woo employs the sloppier, less reliable Mun-suk (Kim Rwe-ha of Memories of Murder) to keep things running smoothly. Kang is involved in a developing feud with another boss, President Baek (Hwang Jeong-min), when he goes on a business trip, leaving Sun-woo in charge, and discreetly asking him for a special favor. There's a "special" young woman he's been seeing, Hee-soo (Shin Min-ah of Volcano High). He suspects she's been seeing another man, and he asks Sun-woo to look after her while he's gone, and find out if she's cheating on him. If Sun-woo catches them together, Kang tells him, he should either phone Kang and tell him, or "finish them off yourself." But Sun-woo finds himself fascinated with Hee-soo, a cellist, and his inability to follow Kang's orders soon brings a world of trouble down on his head. Of course, Sun-woo is fully capable of making some trouble of his own. A Bittersweet Life was shown at the 2006 New York Asian Film Festival, presented by Subway Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi