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World Fantastic Cinema

City of the Rising Sun

KIM Sung-soo

Korea1998104min 35mm color

Synopsis

This film is a story of poor, young boxer Do-Chol, who never won a game, and a mean swindler Hong-Ki. They never get along like cats and dogs. In the eyes of Dochol, Hong-Ki is a liar doing everything to make money. And Hong-Ki can't understand Dochol's obsession with boxing. The two always disagree and fight . They hang around street and do everything for a living. However things does not work out. What they can do is only trivial things. In his former film Beat, the director Kim Sung-Soo made a tragic ending showing a hero's death, following the rule of the genre. However this film leaves a little hope, in the ending, though not in a direct manner but implicitly. The director seems to tell us that rebellion against society is not a proper way for survival and that we should leave for the sun shining in our hearts. (UNO FILMS)

Diretor

KIM Sung-soo

Born in 1961 and mastered in film production at Dongguk University after earning a bachelor degree in English Literature at Sejong University. Actor Jung Woo-sung, known as Kim’s persona, starred in more than half of Kim’s filmographies starting from 1993 that includes Beat (1997), City of the Rising Sun (1998), Musa-The Warrior (2001) and Asura: The City of Madness (2016).