Bloodstained ‘Asura’ depicts criminal world with no room for justice

In the ferocious new crime thriller “Asura: The City of Madness,” director Kim Sung-su wanted to depict the “weary lives of powerless villains.”

The film is a raw action flick teeming with blood and subterfuge, and one that director Kim had wanted to make for “a very, very long time,” he told reporters after a press screening Wednesday in northern Seoul.

The 54-year-old filmmaker, known for works like “The Flu” (2013) and “The Restless” (2006), aimed to tell the story of “the countless (sidekick) villains that appear in crime action films” who end up sacrificing their lives for the greater evil. Kim had wondered why they pledge such loyalty to their exploitative bosses and what drives such fear into their hearts.

“It’s a cruel fate they’re born into,” mused Kim. “(Movie villains) work so hard to do so many evil deeds and don’t even receive proper compensation.

“I wanted to push these characters to the edge and observe how they turn on each other and eventually, their fearsome employer,” he said.

“Asura” depicts the bleak underworld of politicians and public officials who are intertwined in a thick web of crime, blackmail and betrayal. At its center is Park Sung-bae (Hwang Jung-min), the rapacious mayor of the fictional city of Annam who solicits corrupt cop Han Do-kyung (Jung Woo-sung) to cover the tracks of his illegal dealings. Han, in desperate need of money to pay his terminally ill wife’s hospital bills, consorts with the lowest of the low in back alleys to carry out the depraved mayor’s biddings.

When the course of Han’s work leads to an accidental murder, prosecutor Kim Cha-in (Kwak Do-won) swoops in to propose a deal: immunity for handing over evidence that can put the corrupt mayor behind bars. Han slowly falls apart in the hellish, bloodstained struggle between the two powers, which culminates in a gruesome shootout and a gripping car chase on a rain-soaked highway -- a scene which was “incredibly difficult and dangerous” to shoot, according to director Kim.

The highlights of the film include its shrewd if expletive-filled dialogue and rough action scenes that physically depict the “fierce struggle” of the criminal universe, said actor Jung Woo-sung.

“We didn’t want well-choreographed action sequences,” said Jung, who performed many of the fight scenes himself. “We didn’t want to use tricks or techniques, but (wanted to) convey the raw stress of the characters through their bodies.”

Director Kim also focused on camerawork, using varied angles to let the audience detect a “slightly different take” and an “unfamiliar perspective” on familiar action scenes.

Ultimately, the film tells the story of a man “drenched in the world of violence, who ends up being destroyed by that violence, which turns on him,” said director Kim. 

The film “doesn’t deal with the traditional dynamic of good versus evil where justice inevitably prevails,” opting instead to illustrate a universe “filled only with villains” where “the notion of justice dare not intrude,” Kim said.

“Asura: The City of Madness” was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival last month. It will open in local theaters on Sept. 28.

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)