Sam Il was abandoned in a train station locker as a baby, with just a note from his mother with bleak truths about life. His life has been a void and with nothing to live for he drives forward relentlessly into the underground world of brutal bare-knuckle pit fighting.
There is a plot here but as it is a short film it is very condensed and really we spend the first half of the film setting up the character, since it is very much about him and not just what ultimately happens in the film (although the two are impossible to separate). What we get with this short is a mini-version of the violently bleak revenge movies which are a well-known part of South Korean cinema. Although this short is directed by two British brothers, they have captured the bleakness and neo-noir qualities of the films very well, although it is possible to say that they do not bring any personal baggage to the revenge and death themes but are rather spraying on a surface. This is sort of the case but the aesthetics run deep and the neon lit nilihism and bleakness is through the look, the soundtrack, the characters and the lives here and it works.
The cinematography is mostly good although it is visually very dark indeed, which is fine but sometimes the focal points could have done with more clarity – although in fairness I watched it the first time in a well-lit room, it was better when watched in a dark room. It is all about the style and on this level it works very well indeed, with a bleak character matching the tone and making for a compelling story because of just how noir and headed to nothingness it all is.
There is a plot here but as it is a short film it is very condensed and really we spend the first half of the film setting up the character, since it is very much about him and not just what ultimately happens in the film (although the two are impossible to separate). What we get with this short is a mini-version of the violently bleak revenge movies which are a well-known part of South Korean cinema. Although this short is directed by two British brothers, they have captured the bleakness and neo-noir qualities of the films very well, although it is possible to say that they do not bring any personal baggage to the revenge and death themes but are rather spraying on a surface. This is sort of the case but the aesthetics run deep and the neon lit nilihism and bleakness is through the look, the soundtrack, the characters and the lives here and it works.
The cinematography is mostly good although it is visually very dark indeed, which is fine but sometimes the focal points could have done with more clarity – although in fairness I watched it the first time in a well-lit room, it was better when watched in a dark room. It is all about the style and on this level it works very well indeed, with a bleak character matching the tone and making for a compelling story because of just how noir and headed to nothingness it all is.