• Dec 27
• Korean gangland thriller BREATHLESS: Review
• Posted by Deljhp - 27/12/09 at 03:10 AM

Director: Yang Ik Joon. Review: Adam Wing.

If you like your movies hard hitting then look no further, actor turned director Yang Ik Joon has turned in one of the most brutal and uncompromising Korean dramas of the year. Korean cinema is an exciting place to be right now but nothing will prepare you for the raw power of Breathless, an unstoppable juggernaut of pain and torment that refuses to let up until the final credits roll. If it’s fluffy bunnies and red balloons you’re after then turn away now, Yang Ik Joon’s debut feature isn’t afraid to kick you when you’re down. In fact, it spends most of its ample running time doing just that, Breathless might just be the most appropriate film title of the year. Yang Ik Joon stars as debt collector Sang Hoon, a hostile man that grew up in a household destroyed by domestic violence. He witnessed his mother and sister's deaths as a child, and continues to punish his father for the past. Raging through a life of violence and bitterness, Sang Hoon begins to change after he encounters Yeon Hee (Kim Kkot Bi), a foul-mouthed high school girl who's going through some equally hard times.

This is a tough movie to review in truth, it’s a hard sell from start to finish and I doubt that I’ll be returning to it in the near future. That’s not to say it isn’t worth your time, but the unrelenting violence and perpetual profanity will be enough to keep a lot of viewers away. It’s a deeply personal film from director Yang Ik Joon, and he delivers a standout performance as a result, so it’s not particularly surprising to find that he bagged a Best New Actor Award at the Blue Dragon Awards as a result. Kim Kkot Bi went one better, her appearance as feisty school girl Yeon Hee secured her two Best Actress Awards, one at the Blue Dragon ceremony and the other came courtesy of the Dae Jong Award Festival 2009. It goes without saying then that these lead turns are the driving force behind the picture, even though much of the movie will be hard for viewers to stomach, the same can’t be said for the performance of the cast and crew....Continue reading review here.

Breathless UK teaser trail