Bad Guy

Colour, 35mm
Korea, 2001, 100 min
Section: Kim Ki-duk

Synopsis

Shown this year in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, this film investigates love at first sight and instinctive hatred. Gangster and pimp Han-gi spots a student, Sun-hwa, sitting on a park bench and instantly falls in love with her. The presence of the girl’s boyfriend does not deter him from giving her a healthy kiss. Afterward, he tenaciously pursues Sun-hwa and takes advantage of the situation when he sees her stealing a book: after being caught by the store owner she must pay to get out of trouble but the only means of acquiring the money seems to be by working at Han-gi’s brothel. Though at first initially disgusted by it all, her attitude to her new profession takes on an uncertain and ambiguous form. She likewise begins to vacillate in her feelings for the man who brought about her fall, while he for his part watches her having sex through a two-way mirror. Despite the fact that Sun Hwa succeeds in leaving the brothel after uncovering the extent of Han-gi’s dealings, their relationship has already become too strong to let her depart so easily. The girl seeks the gangster out on a deserted beach, and from there a road may lead in a completely new direction.