NAMELESS GANGSTER is a fictional gangster biopic from South Korea that's nonetheless closely based on real-life characters and with a strongly realistic political backdrop of the 1980s to bolster it. It's very much the Korean answer to Scorsese's 1990s hits like GOODFELLAS and CASINO, charting small-time smuggler Choi Min-sik's rise to power after he befriends a distant relative and small-time gangster. Ha Jung-woo, one of my favourite Korean stars, plays this associate and steals all of his scenes while Min-sik compels in a thoroughly weaselly role. The film shies away from action in favourite of strong characterisation and involved plotting. It's an engaging watch.
