80
Variety by Derek Elley
The most emotionally satisfying pic to date by Korean iconoclast Kim Ki-duk.
Bad Guy (나쁜 남자)
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- South Korea
- 2001
- · 100m
Director
Kim Ki-duk
Cast
Cho Jae-hyun,
Seo Won,
Kim Yun-tae,
Choi Deok-moon,
Choi Yoon-young,
Yoo-jin Shin
Genre
Drama,
Romance,
Thriller
After Sun-Hwa rejects a mysterious and aggressive man on the street, she finds herself trapped into a life of prostitution by him as revenge. Forced to work in a seedy brothel as she pays off a debt, Sun-Hwa's world is ruptured by her new exposure to sex and depravity.
Stream Bad Guy
What are critics saying?
75
San Francisco Chronicle by G. Allen Johnson
The film is filled with lovely images (Kim studied painting in France), and ultimately becomes, against all expectations, quite moving.
70
TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox
Beautifully shot and lushly scored, this may be one of the least P.C. love stories ever filmed. But it's one of the most deeply felt.
70
The A.V. Club by Scott Tobias
The film works best as a passionate tale of obsessive love, with two people brought together under harrowing circumstances.
67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker
Uncompromising, unpleasant and emotionally brutal, this twisted love story of emotional bondage is oddly compelling.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Liam Lacey
Low, mean and depressingly plausible.
60
The New York Times
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.
60
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Bad Guy, one of the seven films in Kim's fascinating back catalog, is another kind of cocktail--simple, bitter, served straight and in an unwashed glass.
60
The New York Times by Ned Martel
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.
50
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Certainly offbeat, but not on a level with director Kim's previous work about marginalized people.
50
Chicago Reader by Hank Sartin
The audience is subjected to a series of emotional contortions, encouraged to experience them voyeuristically, and then scolded for doing so. The bathetic music Kim favors is profoundly at odds with his chilly attitude toward the characters.
42
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Really, who needs a bad guy who's this guilty about being bad?
38
New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
South Korean director Kim Ki-duk does a bizarre riff on the twisted macho ethos of abusing women until they learn to love you.
25
New York Post by V.A. Musetto
Becomes more and more confused, unpleasant and preposterous.
Loading recommendations...
Loading recommendations...