예의없는 것들 (No Mercy for the Rude)

It is hard to find a good genre film. People usually think that genre film is about formulas and broad and typical characters. That certainly is true but it does not descript the whole truth. What makes a genre enduring is not those things but what is behind them. Take gangster film, for example. Sure, it is cool and stylish, a bit taboo even, but that is not a great gangster film. The gangster genre is essentially an outsider story, about outsiders turning the table on establishment. It is therefore a metaphor not a presentation; it is by nature allegoric not realist. So, all those speaks of realism in genre films, particularly in gangster films, missed the boat entirely. Park Chul-Hee’s No Mercy For The Rude knows what this means and wears it on its sleeves. Some people think this breaks the genre by introducing elements atypical to the formula. This may be so, but when it comes to the essence of the genre, the thing that gives the genre power is there in full realization. It is like High Noon “breaking the Western genre.” The full realization is such that those who are only familiar with inferior copies cannot recognize what they are seeing. Park is lyrical in his narrative and films without pretension of grandeur, and he does not to attract attention to his prowess as a director. In so doing, his narrative is clear and concise and his film personal and rich. This is all great credit to him as a director. Compare to this, John Woo’s (much less Tse Hark’s) formalized montage is just the pretentious fantasy of an early adolescence.