New World (新世界) is an 2013 film out of Korea. The movie stars Lee Jung-jae, Choi Min-sik, and Hwang Jung-min. Supporting cast include Park Sung-woong and Song Ji-hyo. The movie was release in the states under the Well Go USA label.
Lee plays Ja-sung, the right hand man to Hwang's Jung Chung. They are part of a organized crime syndicate in South Korea. The chairman has recently been killed and a battle for a successor is started between Jung and Park's Lee Joong-gu. Lee's got more muscle than Jung and they're all heading for a vote. The police see this as an opportunity to shape the crime syndicate in their image. Ja-sung is actually a undercover cop. As the movie progresses, you'll notice a lot of other undercovers as well. Choi's section chief Kang and Song's Shin Woo play on the police side and pressure Ja-sung to give up intel on the their boss's. Jung and Lee's side are pitted against each other by Kang. Ja-sung is stuck in the middle trying to get out. How will this all play out?
This movie was really well made. I don't watch a lot of Korean movies anymore as I find the cultural things in those movies hard to follow. In the case here, there's clearly a hierarchy structure that I don't understand. And I don't understand the dynamics of ethnic Chinese in Korea. Which was an important aspect of the movie. I don't know if its the translation into English that loses its meaning, but there is. Sometimes, its the way that they talk that we can't pick up via subtitles. Like if you sarcastically talk back to the police and vice versa. That's why I'll never understand how to give award to films with a foreign language. You lose so much not understanding the language. Even for Hong Kong films translated into Mandarin, there's a degree of "lost in translation" that goes on there.
I do recommend this film due to its slick movie quality. It's unique storyline. And Song Ji-hyo's brief moments in the film.
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