City of the Rising Sun

Kim Sung-soo's 1999 Korean film follows Do-chul, a boxer who never wins, and Hong-ki, a small-time crook. They meet by chance and begin knocking about together, though their views of the world are close to opposite. The original title means There Is No Sun and sets the tone. The two men's plans keep failing; the narrative builds failure not as a comic pattern but as a condition that accumulates and weighs. Jung Woo-sung and Lee Jung-jae lead, both rising names at the time, and the film's standing has grown since. The cutting is fast, the camera mobile, and the Seoul streets of the late nineties are foregrounded. Who it's for: those who like nineties Korean cinema and crime drama about friendship. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a hopeful outcome; the film goes where its title says.