London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Jo Jin-gyu’s Shaman Gangster / Man on the Edge is great entertainment

Man on the Edge

I know I’ve been somewhat grouchy about a lot of K-film recently, so let me make amends. What could be better than a hilarious but tearjerking shaman gangster almost-semi-gay rom-com. Man on the Edge (aka Shaman Gangster, 박수건달, Dir Jo Jin-gyu, 2013, starring a brilliant Park Sin-yang as a gangster who discovers he is in touch with the spirit world) is the best in unpretentious genre mash-up Korean film-making.

Jo Jin-gyu’s debut was the equally fun My Wife is a Gangster (2001), though for me that movie would have been more fun without the violence meted out on a pregnant woman.

Man on the Edge has something for everyone: a bit of violence, camp cross-dressing, romance, cuteness, humour… It’s not high art, but it’s fabulous entertainment. And every now and then, that’s what you need.

Man on the Edge

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