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The City of Violence
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
|name = The City of Violence
|image = Poster for the Korean film The City of Violence.jpg
|caption = Film poster
|director = Ryoo Seung-wan
|producer = Kim Jung-min
Ryoo Seung-wan
|writer = Kim Jung-min
Lee Won-jae
Ryoo Seung-wan
|starring = Ryoo Seung-wan
Jung Doo-hong
Lee Beom-soo
|music = Bang Jun-seok
|cinematography = Kim Yeong-cheol
|editing = Nam Na-yeong
|distributor = CJ Entertainment
|released =
|runtime = 92 minutes
|country = South Korea
|language = Korean
|budget =
|gross = [https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/intl/?page=&wk=2007W23&id=_fJJAKPAE%28THECITYO01 "The City of Violence"]. 'Box Office Mojo'. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
| native_name =
}}
'The City of Violence' (; lit. "Partner" or "Pal") is a 2006 South Korean action crime film co-written and directed by Ryoo Seung-wan, who stars in the film opposite action director and longtime collaborator Jung Doo-hong. The story re-unites former childhood friends for their friend's funeral, which prompts two of them to find the killer.
Plot
Ex-gangster Wang-jae chases a gang of punks into an alley where he's fatally stabbed. His four childhood friends reunite in nearly 20 years at Wang-jae's funeral. Up to then, each person has gone their own way: Tae-su became a Seoul police detective. Pil-ho has taken over his brother-in-law Wang-jae's business. Seok-hwan, who works as a debt collector while his older brother Dong-hwan struggles as a maths professor. After the funeral, Tae-su decides to investigate the murder within a week before he would return to his job in Seoul. Meanwhile, Seok-hwan decides to find and kill Wang-jae's murderers. While investigating, Tae-su is attacked by youth gangs, who use an array of weapons including baseball bats, hip hop, bikes, hockey sticks, and yo-yo's. Tae-su barely escapes with his life after Seok-hwan's unexpected arrival. They decide to work together.
After hunting the gangs, they discover Wang-jae's death isn't a random mindless attack. It was a planned murder. The revelation leads them to Seok-hwan's own brother, who confesses a secret. It's Pil-ho who was behind the plan, which was hatched after Wang-jae disapproved Pil-ho's plans to turn their city into a tourist district. After strangers tried to kill him as part of tying up Pil-ho's loose ends, Wang-jae's young murderer agrees to testify against Pil-ho. A killer douses the young murderer in gasoline and sets him on fire. When Tae-su realizes there's no legal way to take Pil-ho down, he confronts Pil-ho, but he ends up badly beaten. Meanwhile, Seok-hwan, Dong-hwan and their mother are on their way to a restaurant when a truck smashes into their car. After Dong-hwan and his mother's funeral, Seok-hwan and Wang-jae's widow leave the funeral house and sees Tae-su waiting outside.
Tae-su persuades Wang-jae's widow into revealing information on her brother Pil-ho's whereabouts. No longer bound by law, Tae-su and Seok-hwan storm Pil-ho's fortress where they fight their way through swarms of armed cooks and bodyguards until the banquet room. They witness Pil-ho killing a Seoul president, which prompts all guests to leave just Tae-su, Seok-hwan, Pil-ho and his four elite guards alone in the room. The elite guards immediately take Tae-su and Seok-hwan on. Two men, victorious but exhausted, set to take on Pil-ho, but Pil-ho takes them by surprise by attacking Seok-hwan, who loses his fingers. Pil-ho turns and stabs Tae-su's stomach, ignoring Seok-hwan who's binding the katana to his hand with torn table cloth. Tae-su informs Pil-ho that the last man who stands last wins. Before Pil-ho could react, Seok-hwan stabs him through the chest, killing him. As Tae-su bleeds to death, an exhausted Seok-hwan glances around, noting the carnage he and his late friend Tae-su had created, and sighs heavily.
Cast
*Ryoo Seung-wan ... Yoo Suk-hwan
**Kim Shi-hoo ... Yoo Suk-hwan (young)
*Jung Doo-hong ... Jung Tae-soo
**On Joo-wan ... Jung Tae-soo (young)
*Lee Beom-soo ... Jang Pil-ho
**Kim Dong-young ... Jang Pil-ho (young)
*Jung Suk-yong ... Yoo Dong-hwan
**Park Young-seo ... Yoo Dong-hwan (young)
*Lee Joo-shil ... Yoo Suk-hwan's mother
*Ahn Gil-kang ... Oh Wang-jae
**Jung Woo ... Oh Wang-jae (young)
*Kim Byeong-ok ... Youth president
*Kim Seo-hyung ... Jang Mi-ran
*Jo Deok-hyun ... Boss Jo
*Kim Gi-cheon ... Sal-soo
*Kim Kkot-bi ... high school girl with razor blade
*Kim Su-hyeon ... Seoul detective
*Im Jun-il ... Team leader Im
*Lee Na-ri ... Miss Bae
*Park Ji-hwan ... teen gang boss
*Lee Hong-pyo ... Onsung area cop
*Oh Joo-hee ... hanbok-wearing woman in special room 2
*Kim Hyo-sun ... secretary
Awards and nominations
2006 Chunsa Film Art Awards
* Best Supporting Actor - Lee Beom-soo
2006 Busan Film Critics Awards[http://www.cinemasie.com/en/fiche/oeuvre/cityofvilence/recompenses.html "The City of Violence - Awards"]. 'Cinemasie'. Retrieved 2012-03-04.
* Best Cinematography - Kim Yeong-cheol
2006 Blue Dragon Film Awards
* Nomination - Best Supporting Actor - Lee Beom-soo
2006 Korean Film Awards
* Best Supporting Actor - Lee Beom-soo
* Nomination - Best Editing - Nam Na-yeong
* Nomination - Best Music - Bang Jun-seok
* Nomination - Best Sound - Seo Yeong-jun, Jo Min-ho
2007 Grand Bell Awards
* Nomination - Best Director - Ryoo Seung-wan
* Nomination - Best Supporting Actor - Lee Beom-soo
* Nomination - Best Cinematography - Kim Yeong-cheol
* Nomination - Best Editing - Nam Na-yeong
References
Buy The City of Violence now from Amazon
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