고진감래(苦盡甘來)

고진감래(苦盡甘來, Bitter, Sweet, Seoul) (2014) is a montage film made up of the 150 or so winning entries in a film contest on representing Seoul ("Seoul, Our Movie").  I remember the contest from summer of 2013, an, given that various KPOP stars plugged it, it looked (to me) like a tourism brochure rather than a serious project.  But the resulting film, directed by 박찬욱 (the famed director of "Old Boy") and his son, 박찬경, this seems altogether more dark and critical--while still giving lip service to the tourism industry.

The darker bits: contrasting