thriller

Quick Review: Little Boy Missing

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Written by Lizzie Fry

Available from Amazon
I’m not the perfect wife. I’m not the perfect mother. But I didn’t do anything to harm my little boy.

Lizzie Fry is back with another tense crimey-thriller to follow-up on the equally dark and shocking, The Good Mother.

Little Boy Missing is told from the perspective of Jo, a tired and struggling mum of three boys. When her son Kyle goes missing playing hide and seek in the local park, fingers are pointed all over the place as Jo and the police try to figure out where Kyle is and whether someone took him. With Kyle’s special needs thrown into the mix, things become more fraught for Jo as she frantically searches for her boy, desperate to bring him home to where he feels safe.

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A Bittersweet Life (2005)

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Written by Dong-Cheol Kim, Jee-woon Kim
Directed by Jung Doo Hong and Jee-woon Kim

Things go wrong for a high ranking mobster when he doesn’t follow his boss’s orders. (IMDB)

Okay, I know. Before anyone writes in, this isn’t horror. Much like Conrete Utopia a couple of reviews back, but it is a cracking film, so when I get some highly rated Korean movies sent my way, I’d be a fool to not give them a spin.

Just to be clear, I am not an expert on Korean cinema by any stretch of the imagination, but the movies I have seen have always entertained, and A Bittersweet Life was no exception.

Lee Byung-hun is Sun-woo, a cool, calm and collected hitman/enforcer/errand runner for a local hotel owner/crime boss. He is a trusted soldier and an efficient one, the opening scenes clearly showing he has the skills to outmatch anyone trying to muscle in on his Boss’ territory. Which is why he is the perfect choice for his latest job; shadowing his boss’ young girlfriend, Hee-soo (Shin Min-a) who may or may not be having an affair. Sun-woo is told to “deal with them” if she is found to be cheating. She is, of course, having an affair and Sun-woo catches her in the act. But he has taken a shine to Hee-soo who has opened his eyes with a glimpse of the beauty that exists in the world, despite the dark, shadowy places in which Sun-woo exists. He spares Hee-soo and her boyfriend, effectively defying his dangerous boss whi is far from happy.

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