The Faceless Boss (2019)

Gangster elegy. Sad and beautiful

It seems to be another typical Korean gangster film that we have already seen many times: New World, Bittersweet Life or Gangnam Blues, packed with fights, gang wars and corrupt politics. But from the first scenes we know this is something different.

It’s about life and death. Human path and bounds. Sacrifice and pain in the human soul.
We don’t watch spectacular choreographic fights, instead, we got a story of young men’s life involved in a gangster family. The story goes slowly, the decisions made by protagonists are the most important part of this story.

Filming, acting, scenario, music and director’s job are just impressive and actors became an integrally part of the whole artistic creation.

The end is necessary.

If you want to watch something between Korea and Europe and if you are fine with sad films – I recommend ‘Unalterable’. It’s a piece of art.

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Family and Brotherhood

The Faceless Boss is a family and brotherhood noir gangster movie that is different from all the violent and bloody gangster movies. The movie is slow moving and focusing on organized syndicate brotherhood inside/outside the prison and family relationship. It is very touching movie but it is filmed in dark cinematography, probably to deepen the depressing outlook of a gangster life. The actor Chun Jung Myung plays so well as a dignified young Boss Gwon Sang Gon is a son of a construction company. His father wants him to stay in his business and forgo his affiliation with organized crime syndicate. However, Sang Gon is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for a homicide committed by one of his "brothers". After ten years, he takes over his father business but continues with his organized crime activities. Charming actor Jin Yi Han portrays as Sang Gon's Loyal Consigliere Goo Chul Ho that would do anything to protect his "Hyeong-nim" Sang Gon. Actress Lee Shi Ah is worth mentioning, she is so perfect portraying a lawyer Jung Min Jung, Sang Gon's wife. The story is captivating and soul searching. At the end of the day, I would say the movie is made in documentary style for the purposes of education and entertainment, Last but not least, the movie would make us ponder about the meaning of living a life.

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