No Blood No Tears, the second feature by Corean action auteur, Ryu Seung Wan, isn't so much an action picture, but more of a pulp noir/caper movie like a number of the films of Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino.

The story itself features a rather large cast of characters, but our protagonists are two women, one with an abusive ex-boxer boyfriend turned criminal and the other an ex-con turned taxi-driver who owes some gangsters some money. A somewhat complicated scheme is hatched by multiple parties to steal money from an illegal dog-fighting event and it appears as though multiple gangs are involved, as well as the police, some wannabe criminals. Once the scheme begins, all the parties go for the bag of money and multiple double crosses are revealed, along with fists flying, feet running and a whole lot of people getting beaten up and/or killed. All of which is clear, even if it's a little chaotic at times.

Humor is present in the film, more in the form of irony or just people (or the audience) reacting to the madness that's occurring, but it's not a comedy. The action is stylish and some of the choices in direction, including some crazy tracking over surprisingly long choreographed fight sequences, can be surprising both in effectiveness and audacity. The art direction is also notable, the film being drenched in dark tones, perfectly setting the atmosphere.

I think all thesps do a good job with the increasingly deranged boyfriend being the most surprising of all as his character changes. It's not an easy film to watch due to the heaping of physical non-glorified violence, so those that can't take such images should generally stay away. Also, if you don't pay attention or try to do something else while watching this film, you might lose track of what's going on due to the expansiveness of the cast. And things do get quite chaotic when multiple groups are encountering each other (and also quite amusing as well, in a maddening "can it really get any crazier?" kind of way).

Fans of crime/heist movies with a little grit and humor, like those of the aforementioned directors will find a lot to like here. I personally enjoyed the insanity, the comedy, some kickass violence, but I did wish it would've relented just a little on some of the pummeling that happened. It sometimes just got brutal to watch such an unfair matchup. But overall, I enjoyed this energized, entertaining, funny sequence of increasingly crazy events. 8/10.

P.S.: The only copy of this film I could get was the ADV US release, which is adequate enough to contain the movie, but as ADV primarily does anime, the thing comes default with not-quite inspiring anime voice-actor dubbing and not a whole lot of extras (rather, none actually relating to the film). I think that a newer release might be coming out, so if you're interested in picking this one up, you might want to wait for that one.

April Snow is the third film by Corean melodrama auteur Hur Jin Ho and features none other than Bae Young Jun, whose turn in the popular Corean drama series "Winter Sonata" made him an icon of the Corean Wave exported all over Asia and sometimes further. However, since I couldn't bear watching the series, my only context for the Bespectacled One was his rather capable performance in the Corean adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Untold Scandal.

The story is related to both the stories for In the Mood for Love and Random Hearts, in which two people come to realize that their spouses are having affairs with each other and in this shared knowledge, develop a relationship with each other. While I haven't seen Random Hearts, I can say that the same tensions that run through In the Mood for Love also run through April Snow, but they are different movies. April Snow is definitely a Hur movie, as it's primarily composed of moments of silence and watching the protagonists do what they do and seeing the subtle messages implied by how they do it.

One thing that struck me while watching the relationship form between the pair was just how aware they were of the irony of their situation and how their relationship was a sort of escape for them. A strong empathy pours out between the two characters as they deal with their grief and their betrayal. But all things are not even. While the Bespectacled One's character, In Ju, should be the primary protagonist, his performance was a little underplayed which allowed Son Ye Jin's Seo Young to capture more emotion and depth, and consequently steal the focus.

But, the pictures were gorgeous, the acting still good (again, Son Ye Jin really pulls it off), and the way that director Hur captures it all managed to remind me just how much I like his approach to storytelling. This is a quiet melodrama that, while reserved in expression, can't help but leak out the grief, pain, and longing in the two characters. I kind of the wish that the end of the movie cut back more like In the Mood for Love does, but I imagine that audiences more adapted to mainstream Hollywood fare will appreciate the degree of closure provided. While this isn't a masterwork like Hur's previous two films, it is still, I believe, a solid entry into his filmography. Great for lovers of art films. 8/10.

P.S. For Corean music lovers, both Loveholic and Clazziquai end up making a brief cameo in this film as themselves. Granted, the main character is a lighting coordinator for concerts, so someone had to show up.

My Mother and the Houseguest is a remarkable gem by the late director, Shin Sang Ok. While it's a rather conservative tale told in the tradition of Corean melodrama, it's done with such a high level of polish and points out societal tensions at the dawn of modernization in Corea while telling a touching story about loneliness and impossible love that it's hard not to consider this film as something beyond the ordinary.

The story centers on the family that resides in the "widows house", where mother-in-law resides with her late son's wife and daughter, along with their housemaid, also a widow. Their day to day existence is shaken up by the arrival of a man, friend of the mother's brother, who takes up residence in their guest room. However, due to the cultural traditions of the time, it was considered unfaithful to the late spouses if widowers and especially widows were to see other people. Throw in some tension with some mistaken identities and conflict between filial loyalty and the passions of one's heart and you have a potent brew for a classic melodrama.

Narrated by the daughter (clearly a voice-over by an older actress), the picture manages to keep the mother and the houseguest from interacting throughout most of the film while still conveying a surprising amount of attraction between the two, often using the precocious daughter as a bridge. It's both the impressive feat of subtlety used combined with strong moments of melodrama, seen between the non-interactions between the mother and guest as well as a touching scene between the mother and her mother-in-law that really sell this film.

Combined with some impressive aesthetic choices in shooting, solid performances by the thesps, this film would be notable, but some of the imagery used to convey the contrast between traditional culture and modern culture and the conflict therein is also quite surprising. Using the housemaid and her suitor to contrast with the wealthier mother and her suitor to say something about class, tradition, and the conflicts between the way of the past and the present are quite effective and also, pay attention to the presence of trains, which I suppose you can do in many Corean films.

My Mother and Her Guest is a notable old melodrama, while not opaquely subversive, still manages to say a thing or two about society at the time of its making (1961) and also provides an emotional force of entertainment. I don't think everyone will find this film as potent as I did, but this was the film I watched many years ago that cemented a then curiosity about Corean film into a love for it. 9/10.