New DVDs: 'A Dirty Carnival' for Korean gangs

"A Dirty Carnival" has drawn comparisons with the American gangster films of Martin Scorsese -- quite a stretch but also a compliment to the makers of this sturdy Korean action film.

"Dirty Carnival" (2006), just released here on DVD by Genius Entertainment, tells of a Seoul hoodlum who faces various crises as he turns 30: his family faces eviction; his mother suffers from a terminal disease, he's under the thumb of a miserly midlevel crime boss; and he's sweet on a goodie-goodie bookstore clerk who hates hoods.

The charming antihero, played by Adam Sandler-esque TV actor Jo In-Seong, sucks up to an elegant crime lord in a bid to find the money for his family's needs. It's a devil's bargain: To rise in the organization he has to murder a crooked prosecutor, a shocking crime even to these lowlifes.

Meanwhile, an old pal turned film director turns up, bent on getting the lowdown on gangster life for his next project. The script follows life too closely, with tragic results. The buddy story is a good one, one of several strong B-stories.

"A Dirty Carnival" (Biyeolhan Geori) checks in at something like 2 1/2 hours, but doesn't feel particularly long. Director Yoo Ha, a poet, deftly interweaves and paces his narratives (he's also known here for "Once Upon a Time in High School").

The acting is surprisingly good, with few clunker characters, although the romance flirts with the yucky sentimentality common to Asian gangster films.

The Scorsese comparisons come in reaction to the lowdown action scenes, which bring to mind the brutality of Kinji Fukasaku's seminal "The Yakuza Papers" instead of the bullet-ballets of John Woo. (If I had to desert-island two Asian gangster films, they would be "Yakuza" and "Infernal Affairs."

While star Jo In-Seong spent eight months in martial arts training, there are few high-flying kicks or superhuman moves. Mostly, gangs take to each other with baseball bats until no bones are left unbroken. Some of the fight sequences, such as the muddy river brawl, are truly spectacular in their grubby way.

The Genius DVD includes a breakdown of the fight sequences and eight rough-cut deleted scenes. The fight featurette details the production's real-life injuries brought on by breaking glass and hurling bodies, including a production-halting accident involving the star. Anyone with an interest in action films should get a look at this docu. Unfortunately, a half dozen extra features found on the region 3 DVD aren't included here.

The good-looking film comes in widescreen, with the 16x9 enhancement. The (Korean) 5.1 audio is surprisingly good; don't open the door when someone knocks onscreen.

(Genius has imported quite a few South Korean films.)

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week are the two George Romero zombie films "Diary of the Dead" (2007) and the original "Night of the Living Dead," both from Dimension Extreme. From Criterion comes "The Delirious Fictions of William Klein." MGM swings back to the late '60s with an attractive trio: Blake Edwards' "What Did You Do In The War, Daddy," William Friedkin's "The Night They Raided Minsky's" and the frothy "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium."

New and notable:
Company (Image Entertainment)
Diary of the Dead (Dimension Extreme)
Night of the Living Dead (Weinstein Co./Genius Products)
A Dirty Carnival (Genius Products)
The Delirious Fictions of William Klein (The Criterion Collection)
Exes & Ohs (Paramount)
The Flock (Weinstein/Genius)
Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C, season 4 (Paramount)
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (MGM)
The Night They Raided Minsky's (MGM)
What Did You Do In The War, Daddy (MGM)
Jeff Corwin Experience, season 2 (Animal Planet/Genius Products)
The Muppet Show, season 3 (Disney)
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (Disney)
Penn and Teller Bullshit, season 5 (Paramount)
Robot Chicken: Star Wars (Warner)
Strange Wilderness (Paramount)
Tom Selleck Western Collection (Warner)
24 Season One Special Edition (Fox)

Complete list of this week's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org

Comments

[Liz]

Kudos for focusing on one of the overlooked releases this week. If I had to read one more exposé on the bling included in the 24 first season special edition, I was going to scream! A Dirty Carnival sounds really interesting.

[new movies on dvd]

I would like to see this movie. I think Korean movies are great. After seeing the movie "Old Boy" by Chanwook Park, I've been hooked ever since.