Bloody Ties (US Version) DVD Region 1

The film follows Sang Do (Ryoo Seung Bum, also in Crying Fist and Arahan), a small time crystal meth dealer who is trying to carve out a living in the drugs trade. He also acts as an informant for corrupt policeman Ho (Hwang Jung Min from You Are My Sunshine), who is quite clearly happy to use whatever methods are necessary to bring down the local drug kingpin. Although the two are forced into a kind of alliance, Sang Do finds his life growing increasingly complex as he tries to keep his retired dealer uncle out of trouble, as well as attempt to assuage some of the guilt he feels about his immoral life by helping a tragic young woman (Choo Ja Hyun, who received the Best New Actress Award at the 43rd Daejong Awards for her excellent performance) get her life back on track.

Although Bloody Tie may sound like a run-of-the-mill mismatched buddy comedy, it is anything but, with Sang Do not so much teaming up with Ho as being blackmailed into helping him. The character development in the film never follows the expected conventions, and the two never come close to forming any real bond or friendship, instead exploiting each other for often ruthless reasons. This kind of nihilistic cynicism pervades almost every aspect of the film, with police and criminals being equally without any of the loyalty or brotherhood with which they are so often portrayed.

The world which director Choi Ho creates is one of dog eat dog in its simplest form, with lies and betrayals being necessary for survival. Impressively, Choi sticks to his guns, and refuses to offer the viewer any kind of hero, or even antihero figure, and the characters never undergo much in the way of moral growth or set out on the usual journey of redemption. Pleasingly, Choi also avoids glamorising the drugs trade in any way, with its effects on users being shown in unpleasant detail, including one startling scene where an addict imagines herself covered with insects.

The film as a whole is fittingly violent, with some vicious beatings and bloody shootings adding to the air of brutality. What is perhaps more surprising is the film's sexual content, unusually graphic for a Korean film and used not for titillation, but to further the sleazy squalor of the characters' lives. All of this adds another layer of believability to Bloody Tie, as it acknowledges a darker side of Korea rarely seen in mainstream productions.

All this having been said, Bloody Tie is actually quite a funny film, with a bleak sense of humour apparent throughout. This manifests itself in a number of ways. For example, during scenes with Ho swearing vengeance for his dead partner whilst making incompetent love to his wife. The laughs are decidedly low key, and the director never lets them do anything more than bubble under the surface or detract from the film's more serious aspects. This is in fact one of the film's greatest strengths, as it shows a kind of restraint and focus which has often been lacking in similar efforts.

The film has a sort of neo-noir look, with most of the action taking place at night and lit predominantly by streetlight. Choi seems to be aiming for an ironic take on hardboiled police thrillers so popular in the U.S. in the 1970s and in Hong Kong during the 1980s. Shaky handheld camera work mixed in with well-judged split-screen action give the proceedings a real sense of urgency. As such, the film feels like an updated version of Friedkin's classic The French Connection, not only visually but, perhaps more importantly, spiritually as well.

It is a shame that Bloody Tie probably won't be widely seen in the West, as it is certainly one of the best Korean films of the last few years. Although some may be put off by the fact that it belongs to an undeniably overcrowded genre, it is very much the definitive film of its type, and is one of the very few to offer such a believably harsh portrayal of the drugs trade in Korea.

by James Mudge - BeyondHollywood.com

Ryoo Seung Bum stars as Lee Sang Do, a mid level dealer in charge of a sizable Busan neighborhood from which he turns a healthy profit. A businessman through and through Lee is unusual in that he is a second generation dealer who never samples his own wares, seeing them only as a means to enormous financial gain. Lee is also a police informer, trading information on rivals and even people within his own organization to detective Doh Jing Wang (Hwang Jung Min) in exchange for his own security. Doh, for his part, is a shell of his former self, devastated by the execution of his partner by big-time drug lord Jang Chul years before and his own subsequent failure to bring Jang Chul to justice. Doh has been reduced to little more than a hustler, leaning on drug world contacts to line his own pockets while bringing in the occasional arrest to keep his superiors off his back.

Recognizing that the DA's office is pressing to take over all drug-related policing matters themselves and desperate to prove his own worth, Doh leans on Lee to give up his own superior, promising that Lee will be protected in the coming sweep. But the bust goes bad, Lee ends up in jail, and Doh's entire squad is placed under suspension. When Lee is released, the entire landscape has changed. The DA has succeeded in breaking up the three dominant Busan drug rings, thereby paving the way for an entirely new drug power to set up shop, and Lee has been squeezed out of his territory with no supports left in place. When Lee and Doh realize that the new drug lord is Jang Chul, the same man who killed Doh's partner, the two agree to an uneasy partnership - Doh agrees to support and protect Lee for a year in return for Lee infiltrating Jang Chul's organization and serving him up to Doh.

While it may lack the technical sophistication of A Bittersweet Life, Bloody Tie succeeds on the strength of its characters with both Lee and Doh presented as highly complex men driven by a multitude of conflicting forces. The constant power struggle between them, the distrust balanced against mutual need, makes for always interesting viewing. Ryu and Hwang both acquit themselves well in their roles and the film is directed with a dash of style that lifts it above the pack. While not a classic, Bloody Tie is certainly comfortably above average in terms of writing, direction and performance - a combination that makes for a solid piece of entertainment.

The new Korean DVD release is typically strong. The transfer is solid with deep, true blacks and contrast - very important with a film shot extensively at night. The audio tracks are excellent - 2.0 and 5.1 options - and the subtitles very clear and well translated. Additionally some copies - mine among them - include inserts signed by members of the cast.

by Todd Brown - Twitchfilm.net