Directed by: Park Hoon-jung (박훈정) Starring: Uhm Tae-goo (엄태구), Jeon Yeo-been (전여빈), Cha Seung-won (차승원), Park Ho-san (박호산) Release Date: April 9th, 2021 (NETFLIX)
Early serious Korean gangster films like Friend (2001) opened my eyes to an entirely new breed of gangster film unlike anywhere else in the world. Not only would the immaculately tailored suits on top of flamboyant open collar dress shirts help to redefine what it means to be a tough gangster, but the lack of gun access opened up the action side of the movie to giant brawls where fist and foot reigned king in terms of applying force and gaining compliance. Of course, other objects are used as enforcement tools and weapons of warfare like knives, steel bats and wooden sticks too. Beat (1997) and The General’s Son trilogy (1990-1992) are other examples of earlier Korean films that would help to lay the groundwork for one of the most exciting new crime genres the would would soon receive.
Friend (2001)
The early 2000’s also saw the breakout of the gangster comedy genre in Korea, known as the Jopok Comedy, with the massive success of hits like My Wife is a Gangster (2001), Marrying the Mafia (2002), and Kick the Moon (2001). But the more serious and dark gangster films didn’t quite take full form until Kim Jee Woon’s slick noir masterpiece A Bittersweet Life (2005) would follow up the unforgiving Korean revenge powerhouse Oldboy (2003) that put the entire world of cinema on notice that Korean cinema was the hottest on the planet.
Following the success of these two giants, many crime films began to try and recapture both the cool and intensity these films offered, which helped to carve out the now firmly established stylish action and crime film genre so unique to the Korean cinema landscape. There’s a very refined quality and aesthetic to the gangster genre now which helps make it so identifiable and enjoyable.
A Dirty Carnival (2006)
Writer and Director Yoo Ha helped give the genre staying power with his epic crime trilogy including the films Once Upon a Time in High School (2004), A Dirty Carnival (2006) and Gangnam Blues (2014). Furthermore, films like The Man From Nowhere (2010), Man on High Heels (2014), The Merciless (2017), The Villainess (2017) and even last year’s DELIVER US FROM EVIL (2020) would all find themselves in the same section if I were designing a signature “Korean Crime & Gangster” wall at a fictitious video rental store I owned. They all share both a drama and action component to them in realizing their stories.
And of course the director of Night in Paradise, Park Hoon-jung, has arguably done the most for the genre in recent years at least starting with his masterpiece New World (2013), and following up with V.I.P. (2017) and The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion, all of which retain core elements of a brutal power struggle between rival factions and an underlying organized crime narrative that stretch from demented underground cult circles to the highest levels of corrupted law enforcement agencies.
New World (2013)
Above anything, director Park Hoon-jung deserves a ton of credit for helping Korean cinema maintain it’s edge for intense, stylish, action dramas. His stories are so unforgiving, brutal, and cold-hearted, that he can put the most hardened of movie goers in states of awe. Most of characters don’t manage to live until the final credits, as near anything goes in a Park Hoon-jung film. And let us not forget this man wrote the scripts for both I Saw the Devil (2010) and The Unjust (2010). His latest gift to the genre, Night in Paradise, follows suit in the stylish tradition of Korean crime dramas as it oozes with angst and dread to culminate in a bloodbath for the ages.
Night in Paradise centers around the central character of a gangster named Tae-gu (Uhm Tae-goo) who takes revenge on a rival gang boss after his sister and niece are both killed in a targeted attack. As the heat on the incident is to blow over, Tae-gu is sent to hideout on Jeju island before talking a long trip abroad to Russia where he’ll rendezvous with his boss. But the fallout from Tae-gu’s actions instead spark an all out war between rival gangs that in turn makes Tae-gu fugitive number one with a price on his head. With Tae-gu’s days now numbered, he spends the week in Jeju secluded with an associate of his boss and his niece, Jae-yeon (Jeon Yeo-been) whose days he learns to also be numbered as her terminal illness begins to become unbearable.
Night in Paradise (2021)
After so many similar South Korean crime films revolving around a singular ruthless gangster with a heart of gold who puts himself in harms way to protect a young child or female love interest, Night in Paradise scares early on as it hints in this direction. But with a big sigh of relief (as harsh as it sounds), Tae-gu’s loved ones are killed early on in the script. While this still leaves a revenge motive open, I like to think this may have actually been an intended (sick) joke of director Park’s to the audience reassuring us that Night in Paradise wasn’t to be another rescue to protect plot, i.e. The Man from Nowhere (2010) and DELIVER US FROM EVIL (2020).
Night in Paradise doubles down on an effort to not follow the traditional gangster genre route when it sends lead character Tae-gu to the beautiful island of Jeju, off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula. Long considered a natural paradise for honeymooners and families to escape the noisy bustle of the of big city life, Jeju island with all its peaceful resort town scenery and breathtaking beachside vistas becomes a shocking and bloody battleground where the hardened gangsters will settle their scores. One can’t help but compare the vibe in more ways than one to Kitano Takeshi’s masterpiece Sonatine (1993). Almost a character in of itself, the setting becomes a key characteristic that distinguishes the unique vibe found within Night in Paradise due to this ingenious conceptual contrast of expectations.
Upon my first viewing, I felt the the lead character Tae-gu was almost too dispassionate and lost within himself to find sympathetic. But a second viewing revealed actor Uhm Tae-goo’s performance as cool, deeply layered and restrained. I see him now as a man with countless scars from battles past running deep within his soul. With perhaps his only remaining light taken from him with the murder of his sister and niece, the inner rage within him feels palpable and near unstoppable should he unleash it upon his enemies.
After exploding onto the film scene with her powerful performance in After My Death (2018), Jeon Yeo-been convincingly plays the role of Jae-yeon in Night in Paradise, who becomes an interesting counterpart to Tae-gu during his stay on the island. Initially nothing more than a chauffeur for Tae-gu, they begin to learn they have more in common with each other than they thought. She’s deeply disturbed in her own way, suffering from an unbearable physical condition that puts her in and out of hospitals. Also, be the niece of a weapons and ammunition trafficker poses its own set of risks. She’s no slouch with a gun though herself, and her keen marksmanship comes in handy once the mainland criminals zero in on Tae-gu’s whereabouts.
It can be a difficult balancing act in this unforgiving crime genre to make the characters hardened enough to be believable yet have that special charm that gets audiences to care for them. Since characters can be so self-destructive and criminally inclined, moments where they become relatable and generate sympathy can be few and far between. There are moments early on in Night in Paradise with Tae-gu playing the sweet uncle and loving older brother, but his revenge for their murders kept him emotionally locked beyond reach for quite some time afterwards.
But midway through Night in Paradise both leading characters begin to show new sides to their personalities making them more interesting characters overall. The change in Jae-yeon comes after her uncle’s business deal gone sour, and both Jae-yeon & Tae-gu have a few exchanges that loosen up the building tension. Both the scene of them on the bench outside discussing their physical condition and in the bedroom when Jae-yeon invites Tae-gu to sleep with her brought me a few surprising chuckles.
While the character of Jae-yeon feels to be a bit forced into the story so suddenly after Tae-gu’s arrival on Jeju island, perhaps to create some (needed?) sexual tension, and her terminal illness also raised red flags about the earlier narrative devices one thought Night in Paradise would be avoiding. But after the humorous moments mentioned above, I found myself grow more appreciative of both character’s fragile predicaments that helped to establish them as a decent odd couple. When they begin to ride around the island on a scooter together I almost forgot the kind of brutal film Night in Paradise had originally started as due to the huge shifts in tone. I rather liked what it offered to the cinematic experience though, like how The Villainess (2017) changed tones on a dime almost halfway through.
Cha Seung-won is electrifying as Chief Ma, a rival gang boss looking to settle the score with Tae-gu after his early rampage. This was far and away the most standout performance in Night in Paradise. It’s such a treat to see a disgustingly evil character possess such polarizing personality traits. On one end, the merciless cruelty of Chief Ma knows no bounds, yet the character retains an unflinching sense of twisted gangster ethics and warrior’s code mentality that make him frighteningly unpredictable. The tension Cha is able to create during the epic mid-film sit-down with rival authority figures creates an edge-of-your-seat intensity that reaffirms Cha Seung-won (Man on High Heels) as one of the most versatile character actors in Korea, hands down.
Night in Paradise culminates in a bloodshed of biblical proportions, and remains appropriately bleak in tone throughout until its final pulling of the trigger. That is how it goes with characters in these neo-noir crime dramas, falling one by one typically at the hands of a close confidant. This plays into the backstabbing nature of the genre. Although it becomes a disappointing cliche for how the character Jae-yeon is used to lure Tae-gu in the end since she was was defying so many of the typical character archetypes up until that point.
It is understandable how some might have grown tired of a movie like Night in Paradise after having experienced so many by now. But I, for one, will never grow tired of movies like this. It’s now a signature genre that represents the darker side of the Korean cinema landscape that every now and then I fear will become too clean and family friendly as the audience for Korean cinema continues to expands globally. I am so thankful to have directors like Park Hoon-jung to remind us that there are still filmmakers willing and able to treat audiences with darker films like Night in Paradise that push the limits of cinema in terms of its stylized on-screen violence and drama.
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