Bad Guy (2005) Critic Reviews

The most emotionally satisfying pic to date by Korean iconoclast Kim Ki-duk.Read the full review

The film is filled with lovely images (Kim studied painting in France), and ultimately becomes, against all expectations, quite moving.Read the full review

The film works best as a passionate tale of obsessive love, with two people brought together under harrowing circumstances.Read the full review

If there is anything worth discovering in this sad slog of a story, it is the two fierce performances by Cho Je-Hyun and Seo Won, who play the lovers and turn the harsh drama into a showcase for their pained expressions.Read the full review

The filmmaker's attempt to explore the outer boundaries of erotic and violent obsession are undone by the murkiness of the execution, and only the highly committed and forceful performances by the two leads give the aptly titled Bad Guy any distinction.Read the full review

What begins, rather promisingly, as a visceral yawp against class difference in contemporary South Korea slowly devolves into a prolonged exercise in pointless sadomasochism.Read the full review