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2002 | 116 MIN | Action, Crime, Drama

CAST  JEON Do-yeon, LEE Hye-young, JUNG Jae-young, RYOO Seung-bum, SHIN Goo, JUNG Doo-hong

DIRECTOR RYOO Seung-wan

RELEASE DATE March 1, 2002

CONTACT Korean Film Archive

Tel +82 2 3153 2001

Following the rapturous reception of Die Bad (2000), an omnibus comprising four action shorts shot on 16mm, director Ryoo Seung-wan entered the commercial arena on a wave of anticipation with No Blood No Tears (2002), his first feature-length narrative.

Produced while the director was still only 28 — hence the moniker "Action Kid" which has stuck throughout his career — the film was pitched as the Korean answer to the brand of distinctive crime thrillers popularized in 1990s Hollywood by the likes of Quentin Tarantino.

On its surface, the film revolves around the tried-and-true trope of a bag of money and the coterie of colorful characters navigating Seoul's grimy underworld as they attempt to get their hands on it.

What makes No Blood No Tears stand out are the two female characters who lead the story and its uncompromising tone, from its hard-edged characters and aggressive dialogue to its vicious choreography.

Those lead characters are played by Jeon Do-yeon, who had recently risen to stardom through romantic hits such as The Contact (1997), and Lee Hye-young, known at the time for landmark 1980s films like Im Kwon-taek's Ticket (1986) and Jang Sun-woo's The Age of Success (1988).

Jeon is Soo-jin, who is constantly beaten black and blue by her drunk gangster boyfriend Dok-bul — a ferocious Jung Jae-young — while Lee is the world-weary and debt-saddled taxi driver Gyung-sun. The pair meet late one night thanks to a fender bender, a meeting that serves as their contentious meet-cute. Before long, they come to realise that their differences are outweighed by their shared plights, as both are subjected to violence and demeaning behavior by men. When Soo-jin approaches Gyung-sun with a dangerous proposition, they join forces until the bitter end.

With his most recent film Humint, a brooding and romantic spy thriller with an explosive action finale, director Ryoo Seung-wan has now made 14 feature films in what has been one of the most consistent filmographies of 21st-century Korean cinema. It has certainly been a successful one, with Ryoo currently ranked first by admissions among all local directors. His films have collectively sold over 57 million tickets, making Ryoo the only filmmaker to have sold at least one ticket per Korean resident.

The bulk of that commercial success has come in the second half of that career, from big-budget action hits such as The Berlin File (2012) and Veteran (2015). Action has always been a central element of his work but the films that put him on the map were an altogether different beast. Fuelled by the classic Hong Kong and Korean action films he grew up watching, they were raw, edgy, lively and colorful, not to mention unlike anything else the industry had released up until that point.

Though his debut is packed with fight scenes, Ryoo's signature brand of action choreography really came into being through No Blood No Tears, thanks in no small part to the participation of legendary martial arts coordinator Jung Doo-hong, who also appears in a small and memorable role.

Ryoo and Jung are one of the most celebrated partnerships in the Korean film industry, but it wasn't smooth sailing to begin with. While Ryoo was keen to channel the stylized action of his HK heroes, Jung forcefully advocated for a more grounded and realistic aesthetic. Jung won out, and a distinctly Korean screen action style was born.

Complementing the savage choreography, which reaches its pinnacle in a brutal brawl between Dok-bul and Jung's unnamed rival gangster, is a harsh worldview underpinned by gendered violence. If nothing else, the film's ruthless character arcs, which would be unthinkable in today's Korean commercial market, afford Soo-jin and Gyung-sun's dark and twisted journey a wickedly memorable edge.

Written by Pierce Conran
Edited by kofic