Die Bad

A fight in a pool hall ends with a boy dead. From that moment the film divides into four parts and follows what becomes of people from the same circle: one goes to prison, one becomes a policeman, one joins a gang, one fights at school. The film is not interested in the criminal world. It is interested in violence as inheritance: in each part a new generation takes over the same fight, and nobody can claim to have chosen it. The form is fragmented and rough: shot on 16mm, grainy, largely handheld. The fights are built on exhaustion rather than choreography; people run out of breath and swing while stumbling. Ryoo Seung-wan wrote, directed and starred. The film was assembled from four separate shorts; Ryoo had won the Busan Short Film Festival in 1998 with his short Rumble and then signed to link those shorts into a feature. The budget was extremely low and equipment was largely borrowed. His brother Ryoo Seung-bum is in the cast; his acting career started here. Who it is for: viewers who like the Korean independent turn around 2000 and raw fight scenes. Who it is not for: anyone after technical polish. The image is poor, the sound is troubled in places and the tone is uneven between parts.