A Dirty Carnival (2006)

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Just watched this dark Korean gangster film last nite. Lots of realistic brawling action, and a good story as well. Not as stylized as films like "A Bittersweet Life" or "No Blood, No Tears", but felt more realistic. Deffinitely worth a watch, and it just got a R1 release recently.

[oldeschool17]

How do you rate it in comparison to City of Violence?

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Totally different kind of film. This is a gangster film first, with emphasis on story and characters. The action is well done and frenzied, but not stylized or as frequent as City Of Violence. So its kinda hard to compare the two films. If your a fan of Triad films, you'll probably enjoy this too. Its not a "feel good' film with a happy ending.

[oldeschool17]

Totally different kind of film. This is a gangster film first, with emphasis on story and characters. The action is well done and frenzied, but not stylized or as frequent as City Of Violence. So its kinda hard to compare the two films. If your a fan of Triad films, you'll probably enjoy this too. Its not a "feel good' film with a happy ending.

Cool. Yeh i have an idea of what the ending is thanks to some assholes that spoiled it in an amazon review. I'll prolly check this out sometime.

[daisho2004]

I seen the cover art for this movie and I was going to ask if anyone seen but you already answered that, so I guess I'll be picking this up as well.

Product Description

The mean streets of Seoul is a tough place to make a living. So when a young career gangster gets a chance to move up the ladder in his organization, he decides to take the shot. After disposing of a corrupt lawyer who threatens his crime family Boss, he begins a rapid rise to power. His future in crime seems secure at last. Until movie director friend contacts him seeking background information for his upcoming mob drama. Now, caught in a web of murder, passion and betrayal, the hit man must draw first blood in order to survive in a dirty world without trust or mercy.

[The Running Man]

This is a fantastic film. In my opinion one of the best Korean films in the last few years and superior to the over rated A Bittersweet Life.

[One Armed Boxer]

I watched this movie pretty recently having had it sit on my shelf for far too much time, but since it came with Kung Fu Bob's seal of approval, I decided to finally check it out.

'A Dirty Carnival' certainly comes with it's share of ferocious group brawling scenes, featuring knives, baseball bats, peoples heads getting bashed into pachinko machines, and some nice kicking from lead Jo In-seong. They have an intensity to them that works in the movies favor to give it that distinct edge over its genre counterparts.

Thankfully it's backed up by a good story as well, as In-seong's lowly gangster tries to climb up the ranks so that he can support his family, while at the same time contending with his own desire for power and rank, he makes a likeable protagonist.

What I didn't expect from the movie was the inclusion of Nam Goong-min's character as a failing movie director who's trying to get inspiration for his next feature. He comes in early and is introduced as wanting to make a gangster movie, and as he was school friends with In-seong's gangster, he lets him tag along for some of his adventures. I actually said to my friend who I was watching it with that I found the presence of Goong-min's failing director character quite distracting to the plot, and I was wondering what purpose he had being there, other than being an annoyance to my enjoyment.

So I was pretty surprised to find almost the whole final third of the movie hinges on the actions of his character, as he becomes a central part of the plot, and I kind of wished things had taken a different direction than they did. That's not to take away from what's overall a great inclusion to the vast genre that is Korean gangster cinema.