If the idea of Goncharov's *story* appeals to y'all (like, outside of the meme, if you were like, 'oh, I would watch that movie if it existed'), "The Merciless" should probably be on your watchlist

It's a complicated angsty relationship gangster tension plot-twisting ride of a tragic violent shoot-em-up heartbreak-fest and I have so many feelings about it hhffsdfghhghghhhhhh

(and it got like an 8 minute standing ovation at Cannes if that is convincing to anyone)

ALSO in the running for "existent gangster movies that are literally earth shaking in scope and layers of analyses" is my all-time favorite "A Bittersweet Life"

(100% on Rotten Tomatoes btw)

Both movies are SO MUCH MORE than generic "shoot-'em ups", although there are definitely many shots fired and lovers of action will not go away disappointed! I cried, I thought about them for days, it's a whole experience...if gangster movies are your thing and you HAVEN'T seen them, advance!! Go!! Scour the internet!! You won't regret it!! (Unless you hate good movies in which case you will! lol)

@greenapplebling it's the movie I was talking about

“I realized, Hell wasn’t the residence or this company. It was people around me.” - Yoon Jongwoo 

There’s this saying, you know? Hell is other people.

Strangers From Hell (2019)

@greenapplebling that's what I was talking about

And ONCE AGAIN Im Siwan’s character is called “Jagiya” by his older murderer DILF. What a time to be alive—

What luck

Sometimes I just sit down, put my head in my hands and think about The Merciless (2017) and not only do I begin to feel every emotion ever, including some specific only to this movie, but I also have some thoughts that are really hard to make coherent, because they’re really more like meta vibes rather than actual Thoughts.

The use of violence in the movie. Hyunsoo looking uncomfortable when Jaeho is torturing Kim Sunghan, and gently being told, “Baby, go outside,” versus Hyunsoo beating a man to death with brutal, repetitive punches. How his expression changes from completely blank, to a smile. How Jaeho looks down at him, grinning, licking his lips.

Hyunsoo’s mom got hit by a truck on Jaeho’s orders, but by Captain Chun’s undercover man. Jaeho gets hit by Captain Chun’s van.

Hyunsoo bouncing that baseball just like Jaeho as he waits in the dark, abandoned orphanage for the last time. Hyunsoo laying down in Jaeho’s car, just like Jaeho was at the start of the movie, blood on his expressionless face, a tear rolling from his eye. “Don’t make the same mistake as me,” Jaeho tells Hyunsoo. Jaeho allowed himself to be destroyed because of his love. Hyunsoo destroyed his love with his own hands. Did it destroy him?

Byunggap and the undercover guy talking about how killing methods become more and more impersonal, and the way Hyunsoo just shoots Captain Chun, empties his entire gun into her, but covers Jaeho’s mouth with his bare hands. They both manipulated his life in the same way, but one meant more to him than the other.

The wind rising and close zooms on Jaeho’s eyes and Hyunsoo’s mouth during the scene where Hyunsoo calls him to arrange a time and place to meet is a cinematic technique to show tension there. Jaeho suspects. It’s that same ‘strange feeling’ that he got when his mother put poison in his food as a kid, right? Jaeho slowly putting his phone away and looking up at the sky. Jaeho taking out Byunggap and going to meet Hyunsoo anyway.

The use of blue and orange in the movie. Blue is Hyunsoo, orange is Jaeho. At the height of his power, everything around Jaeho is orange. When Hyunsoo fully commits to the gang life in the brutal fight scene, Hyunsoo wears a blue suit. (I wonder who bought it for him?) When you put orange and blue together, it makes green. Some important green scenes include: “Hyung, I’m a cop,” both elevator scenes, the torture scene, Hyunsoo finding out the truth scene. When Jaeho finishes with Byunggap and drives out to meet Hyunsoo, the light turns from orange to blue. The abandoned orphanage is always suffused with a deep orange light. The light of the fireworks on the beach is warm, but the sky is a deep dark blue. When dawn breaks, there is a very distinct blue light on everything.