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 (Madman)
Action-packed Korean western errs on the side of ‘good’
I’m a big fan of Asian cinema in general, and Korean cinema in particular, whether in the form of the disturbing emotional transgression of Lee Chang Dong (Oasis), the outrageous perversion of Kim Ki-duk (The Isle), the monsters of Bong Joon-ho (The Host and Mother), or the messed-up various vengeances of Park Chan-Wook. So when a title like The Good, The Bad, The Weird sidles across my radar, a little frisson of excitement ripples down my spine. Director Ji-woon Kim has brought us little gems in The Quiet Family and A Bittersweet Life in recent years, but his latest film is a much bigger affair, taking in the scope of the broad plains of 1930’s Manchuria and an unrestrained conflict among Chinese, Japanese and Koreans.
The ‘Good’ here is Park Do-wan (Woo-sung Jung), a bounty hunter chasing the mysterious and elusive ‘Finger Chopper’. In his search, Do-wan encounters the eccentric and apparently indestructible Yoon Tae-goo (Kang-ho Song) – The Weird – robbing a train, and a ruthless gang controlled by psychopath, Park Chang-yi (Byung-hun Lee), a man who is decidedly Bad. In the wild plains of Manchuria, these three men grapple for control of a mysterious map that may or may not lead them to a treasure trove, all the while pursued by the Japanese Imperial Army, which has its own mysterious motives.
While drawing comparisons to Indiana Jones, Ji-woon’s film looses all the ties that might constrain a Hollywood production, and sets off pell-mell into an insane romp that is violent, gorgeously choreographed, and consistently hilarious.
****
TIM MILFULL
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