NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

ejwells-2 This film is simply brilliant. Makes Scorsese's Goodfellas look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (no offence, Marty...but this is even better than the film you decided to remake). I was spellbound from the opening scene til the end credits. I love a "span the generations" gangster film. This one is truly on par with the Godfather part 2, if not (dare I say it) better? Director/writer Kyung-taek Kwak proves himself a major force in Korean cinema, and I'm sure has even ruffled the feathers of the great Chan-wook Park with this one (well, maybe not "ruffled," as Park has since directed Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, and I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, and Kwak has fallen to "Typhoon.") That all said, at least we know he has it in him, even if it was just a fluke. Certainly the best Asian film of 2001. 9 of 10 stars.

dmuel Friend tells the story of childhood friends who take divergent paths in life, including one who pursues a life of vicious thuggery. Another also adopts to a life of crime though his manner is not quite as repugnant. Conflict ultimately engulfs these individuals, and this tests the depth of their friendship.While at times an engaging story, Friend literally oozes sentimentality in its long drawn-out finale. Focusing intensely on the male bonding that takes place between its leads, Kwak attempts to give us a portrait of men driven to acts of violence that, despite their repugnance, cannot sever the ties existing between them. Indeed, women in this film are relegated to the background, the attraction between the sexes also failing to dampen the emotional connection between its male characters. The story ultimately fails to convince. In spite of the praise heaped upon this film from other viewers, this is a story so dripping in emotional content, (it is laid on far too thick), the movie ultimately becomes an overly romantic take on male-bonding. One could also view Friends as an allegory on the North/South Korean divide. In spite of terrible violence in the past, the two Koreas share an inseparable bond, or so the allegory might suggest. But since the film doesn't quite deliver on its substance, an allegorical critique isn't really necessary.

misguidednrg If there were a movie out that resembled my story style, it would be this one. I guess to that credit, i gave it some unfair bias =)The elements of the story are like most of mine: Good setup and character development at beginning Wanes a bit in the middle Awesome End Underlying message trying to be conveyedThis is a beautifully told story and the fact that's its based upon the director's true life makes it better.My only complaint is the lack of development on the shrimpy character. THe movie starts out displaying the FOUR friendships and develops on that really well. Yet near the middle of the movie, the focus seems to be on the two gangsters and the narrator. It may be b/c that's how it was in reality, but the fourth character, I thought, needed to given more of the story, at least fictional roles just for balancing purposes.Other than a few carping details, I loved the film.The end owns and the quote from the beginning is quite relevant. The whole story displays LIFE and has reinforced what i believe life accounts - Memories. It is a series of memories and a series of moments that truly touches the heart and will perhaps make you realize memories of your own and how important and effective they are.8/10

QuadESL63 As mentioned in the earlier comment here, this movie is beautifully filmed with great cinematography, but...The first half (before two of the friends went to colleges elsewhere) of the movie brilliantly portrayed the relationships between these four friends and their differences. However, the second half of the story is not as good as the first. Sure, it illustrated the friendship between "Sang-taek" and "Joon-suk" and the parting of "Joon-suk" and "Dong-su" in great details, but we never see the two college-goers involve in the conflicts between "Joon-suk" and "Dong-su".I'm disappointed that "Joong-ho" did not get a chance to further develop the character and the involvement in the conflict (e.g. which side of the conflict did he sided with?). He became just a comic relieve type of character in the movie, which is sad. They movie could have developed all four characters around their life-long bond in a more balanced and thorough way.The friendship between "Sang-taek" and "Joon-suk" can be touching at moments. "Joon-suk" took care of "Sang-taek" took care of each others from time to time, and at the end "Sang-taek" never leave his friend (obviously "Joon-suk" was heading for an execution) even though he killed one of them.At the end of the movie "Joon-suk" said something like: "... I thought Joon-suk and Dong-su were together on the same path..." (I watched the movie with Chinese subtitle... so hopefully the translation did not loose the original meaning). They are until the end. "Dong-su" always want to be at the same position of "Joon-suk". That's the tragedy of the four.I'm relieved that it doesn't emphasize around the action scenes (they are brief but stunning none the less) as some of the Hong Kong movies of the same sort. This movie is not just about gangsters' war.This is a good movie to watch if you are tired of the usual Hollywood flicks. However, it lacks just a little bit to make it into a truly great movie.