Chi-sung is a gangster known for his unmatched ability to wield a knife, the loyal "left hand" of his boss. When some gang business turns ugly, he ends up taking responsibility and heading to jail for an extended sentence. However a surprise awaits him in prison: who else should he meet there but his childhood friend and former colleague Soon-tan, who he had been told was dead. Amidst this happy reunion, doubts begin to creep into Chi-sung's mind. Why hadn't he been told the truth about Soon-tan, and what else is happening on the outside as he sits in jail?
Righteous Ties is the sixth feature film by director Jang Jin, who has carved out an unmistakable niche for himself in the Korean film industry and in theatre circles. There is much here that links his latest film to his previous work: the unexpected shifts in mood between comedy, melodrama and action; the memorably-drawn cast of supporting characters, played by talented but relatively unknown film and theatre actors; Jang's lighthearted toying with film form and viewer expectations; and the commanding lead performance of Jung Jae-young, one of the director's regular collaborators.
Yet in other ways Righteous Ties marks a step towards mainstream, commercial entertainment. Although playing down the scale of this shift ("all of my films are mainstream films," he says), Jang admits he aimed to make this movie "a bit more comfortable for ordinary viewers." Having partnered with Kang Woo-suk, the founder of Cinema Service and the director of smash hit Silmido, Jang also had a considerably larger budget than what he usually works with (the prison set alone cost more than $500,000). The film ultimately sold 1.7 million tickets ($11.7 million), a strong performance, but ironically a step below the level of his previous feature Murder Take One.
It's in the details of how various characters interact that Righteous Ties provides its biggest pleasures. The plot may determine why and how people meet, but what actually comes out of their mouths is often a product of their own insecurities and miscalculations. Jung Jae-young excels at depicting this; while in one sense his character is a highly competent, physical force to be reckoned with, his feelings remain so down-to-earth, and so close to the surface that we can't help but be drawn in.
Actor Jung Jun-ho (My Boss My Hero) is perfectly cast for the role of Joo-joong, an earnest but somewhat unthinking close colleague of Chi-sung's who begins to rise in the gang in his friend's absence. However the biggest discovery for me in this film is Ryu Seung-ryong as Soon-tan. An actor with an imposing but humanitarian presence who has acted almost exclusively in Jang Jin productions before this year (he also appears in Cruel Winter Blues and Im Kwon-taek's 100th film Beyond the Years), Ryu imparts an emotional depth in his limited screen time that most actors couldn't deliver.
Jang Jin's creativity is best seen in the film's rollicking first half, where he proves more than capable of compensating for the plain backdrop of the prison. Indeed, you've never seen a prison movie quite like this one, with its outrageous mood swings and hilarious dialogue. Later, as the film's narrative gathers purpose and becomes more streamlined, it loses a bit of its originality. In fact, the film's biggest disappointment is that the ending feels so familiar – it could easily be exchanged with those of many other Korean gangster dramas. Nonetheless Righteous Ties remains well worth watching, both for its own sake, and to follow to continuing career of one of Korea's most original filmmakers.