Tribeca - West 32nd Street
I’ll be the first to admit that I know less about K-Town than I probably should as a long-time New Yorker. Sure I’ll head down there for Korean Bar-B-Q from time to time, but besides that, its not really a place I’ve spent a lot of time hanging out. So it was a lot of fun to get a look at the darker side of the area in this crime thriller about Korean gangland murders. This is not a complicated movie, intent on being too tricky for its own good. You move through the story simply, with the main character. You see what he sees, know what he knows, and experience the same sort of confused wonder as he (and you) get more and more submerged in the underground Korean gang culture. There is no insistence on a ‘twist’ to resolve the plot. The story is what it is and it is very well told.
There is a tendency in Hollywood movies to either idealize or demonize gang culture. Few movies really take a look at why people are in gangs, who they are, the cultural pressures that are brought to bear. West 32nd Street does that. It makes the gang members real and by doing so, it makes you care about them. That’s all the hook ths movie needs. It doesn’t need any crazy high-speed chases or gun-blazing heroics or fancy plot devices. It eschews all of that for simplicity well done. And it pays off with a really good movie. This should be getting a wider release, I hope. According to the director, they’re currently trying to hammer something so look for it in theaters in the next year. Its worth going to, especially if you’re a New Yorker. Five out of five.