[HanCinema's Film Review] "Cruel History of Myeong Dong" + Full Movie

Functioning as a tribute to the titular area of Seoul, "Cruel History of Myeong Dong" brought together three directors, Byeon Jang-ho, Choe In-hyeon and Im Kwon-taek creating a film that could be described as an omnibus, but actually implements a continuation in its story, with the narrator, Heo Dal-soo, functioning as the connecting tissue.

Advertisement

The first episode is titled "It Must Be Noisy" and revolves around Park Min, the former "King" of Myeong Dong, who has just been released from prison, and is about to regain his territory by the current leader, Hwang Doo-sik. The first "skirmish" takes place in a bar, where Dal-soo is working as a waiter. Doo-sik's goons get beaten by Park Min, but the cunning man threatens to kill his girlfriend, Woo-hee, if he does not succumb. Park Min manages to escape, but Doo-sik sends more men on his heels, including an 18 year old young man, whom the protagonist manages to convince to leave the life of the criminal. Tragedy however, still lurks very close.

The second episode, "The Woman Who I Really Want" unfolds in flashbacks for the most part, with the the protagonist, Hyeon, who has also just been released from prison, visiting a crime boss, Yeong-bae, asking for help for taking revenge on his former boss, and to know the whereabouts of his former love. As he explains, once he asked him to leave the gang in order to marry his sweetheart, Suk, but his boss suggested that he will let him go only if he kills his main opponent. Hyeon did so but found himself betrayed. As the story unfolds, an even worse series of events is also revealed. In the meantime, and since the War has ended, Dal-soo has opened a florist's and has become a father.

The third story, "Confront" focuses on another anti-hero, Sang, who is searching for his father, Yeong-pyo, who abandoned his mother. He is helped by Hee, his girlfriend, while, at some point, he stumbles upon Jo-yeong, Dal-soo's daughter, who is smitten by him. Things get worse and worse as time passes and the violence gets more intense, while neither Dal-soo seems to be able to escape it this time.

Apart from the connection of the area and Dal-soo, the three segments actually look very much alike, as they all revolve around anti-heroes, really powerful men who find themselves in the worst fate, as they try to fight against all odds, taking with them, in their downward spiral, both enemies and friends. The combination of melodrama and gangster/action movie, works pretty well in entertainment terms, with the movie emitting both nostalgia and a sense of agony about the fate of the protagonists. At the same time, the main comment here, about how gangster life destroys people, is quite eloquent, through the fate of everyone involved and the presentation of Myeong Dong, which bloomed when the "underworld" people left the area completely.

Also of note is the action, which follows exploitation roads, with the violence being rather intense and frequently turning against women, in a style that borders on the misogynistic. At the same time, the overall aesthetics remind much of the Japanese style of the yakuza films of the 60s and 70s, something that is particularly visible in the middle part in the black-and-white sequence where Hyeon attacks his boss's enemies with a sword. In this case, however, the occasionally comedic and sensualistic elements of the Japanese films of the 60s and 70s have been replaced by melodramatic ones.

The way the stories come together is another great element, with Heo Jang-kang giving a really memorable performance as Dal-soo, particularly in the third part, and the editing working quite well throughout the movie. The cinematography is also quite good, maybe with the exception of a few moments in the first part, adding also some noir elements in the amalgam of the omnibus.

"Cruel History of Myeong Dong" is a very entertaining movie, which sees the three directors in rather good form, and one that will satisfy equally fans of gangster, exploitation and melodrama.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

___________

"Cruel History of Myeong Dong" is directed by Byeon Jang-ho, Choe In-hyeon, Im Kwon-taek, and features Heo Jang-kang, Park Nou-sik, Choi Moo-ryong, Yoon Jung-hee, Jang Dong-hwi, Kim Hee-ra. Release date in Korea: 1972/06/04.