Tag Archives: 2006

Action, Crime, Drama, Genre, Korean Movies, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews

A Dirty Carnival

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A Dirty Carnival – is a South Korean neo-noir film released in 2006. An upcoming film director Min Ho has to read a gangster’s life to create the script for his gangster movie. He follows and interviews his high school friend turned gangster Kim Byung-doo to understand the life of a gangster and make his movie. When the movie is released it is so close to the reality of the crime Byung-doo was involved in that he now has to kill Min Ho to save his secrets.

Sounds similar? Well this is the movie that many of the movie buffs have compared with Jigarthanda. Only the central plot is similar but the genre, treatment, the actual conflict and where the movie heads to is vastly different. They are two different movies with different story. So stop comparing the two movies.

A Dirty Carnival is a very serious gangster movie in itself. The movie is so realistic to the life of gangsters. You would see some realistic looking fights rather than the cinematic fights with visual effects. The movie right from the start follows Kim Byung-doo who is leading the life of a gangster and struggling to make his ends meet with an ailing mother, dependent brother and sister. The story is about his rise to power, his love for his childhood friend, his interactions with Min Ho for the movie script and the final conflict he gets into where he would have to kill his friend to live free. The story is very engaging right from the start. You would have the experience of looking into the life of a gangster. The performances, character buildup have been done very well. The editing of the movie is outstanding. If you are fan of gangster movies watch this one definitely.

Must Watch – for gangster fans

Crime, Drama, English Movies, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews, Thriller

The Departed

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The Departed – This is 2006  movie directed by Martin Scorsese.  It is a crime thriller where a police superintendent makes one of the new recruit to infiltrate the  drug trafficking gang. While the boss of the gang simultaneously makes one of the gangster infiltrate the police department. With moles in each group the plot gets interesting when both the boss and the police superintendent figure out the existence of moles in each of their groups. The rest of the movie is a race between them to uncover the moles faster than the other so that their own person in the other group is protected. What happens in the end is the rest of the plot. This movie is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs.

The movie has a very close resemblance to the original, including many of the camera angles. For a director like Martin Scorsese to do this, you know how well the original has been made. Like the original this also follows the 3 Act Play to the book as mentioned in my recent Friday Fact section. The movie has some brilliant casting with Matt Damon, Leornado DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg. The movie just gets much bigger due to its cast ensemble. Kudos to Martin Scorsese to bring such a movie again back to the screen with strong casting a true tribute to the original. The Departed went on to win the Academy Award for the best picture. For the brilliant casting and narration this is a must watch.

Must Watch