BAD GUY aka NABBEUN NAMJA

Year: 2001
USA: LifeSize Entertainment
UK: Metro Tartan Distribution
Cast: Cho Jae-Hyn, Seo Won, Kim Yoon-Tae, Choi Duk-Moon, Shin Yoo-Jin, Kim Yung-Young
Director: Kim Ki-Duk
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean (English subtitles)
USA & UK: 100 mins
UK Certificate: 18 contains strong sex, violence and language
USA Release Date: 11 February 2005 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 11 July 2003


Synopsis

Han-gi, a gang boss in a red light district, sees a college student Sun-hwa on the street. He falls for her instantly, and strides over to her, forcibly kissing her. He hardly notices her disgust, or the beating he subsequently receives from a group of soldiers. But Sun-hwa is not quite what she seems, and Han-gi learns that she owes money and has become a pickpocket. She takes out a loan and is becoming increasingly desperate, when Han-gi moves in on her, signing her up as a hooker in a brothel under his protection.

Once this is accomplished, Han-gi returns night after night to watch Sun-hwa through a secret window, who is locked in a closed chamber. As he watches her struggle with despair and shame, Han-gi also suffers unbearably, in love and hate, pity and despair. The two gradually become dependent on one another as this sad, twisted love story draws them strangely closer and closer.

Following in the footsteps of his film ADDRESS UNKNOWN, a dark exposure of the wounds of contemporary Korean society, director Kim Ki-Duk moves to the red light districts of Seoul. BAD GUY tells the story of a man who falls in love with a college girl at first sight and sets about turning her into a prostitute.

As always, Kim Ki-Duk retains his characteristic style, while portraying a new kind of eroticism which probes the foundations of human instincts. His latest work is sure to spark controversy.