Dirty Carnival, A

aka: Biyeolhan geori
South Korea 2006, 141 minutes
Dir. Ha Yoo
In Korean with English subtitles
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Drama / Gangsters

Feat. In-sung Zo, Ku Jin, Tae won Kwon

Aroview: Dynamite entry in the burgeoning Korean gangster genre explores the meteoric rise - and inevitable fall - of one Byung-du, a lowly triad upstart whose financial woes compel him to advance his career via dirtier means.

Though grasping at the epic sweep and Greek-like tragidrama of GOODFELLAS, this will be remembered for its brutal, if only occasional, outbursts of violence, centred on one particularly savage baseball bat melee between throngs of opposing gangsters. Where the film transcends its stylised barbarism and thuggish familiarity is in its core of richly drawn characters and immersive quality, which gains an extra texture as a innovative film-within-a-film, introducing an ambitious filmmaker midway through who pegs Byung-du as research for his new gangster flick...

NZ International Film Festival 2007