Gangnam Blues is indeed a juicy crime picture that illustrates the connections between organized crime, official power structures, and their intertwined role in accelerating economic developments that cause considerable social inequality. Returning to the crime genre for the first time since the contemporary thriller A Dirty Carnival (2006) and mixing elements of that film with his 1970s-set youth drama Once Upon a Time in High School (2004), Yoo is evidently gunning for instant classic status here, but doesn’t quite scale the pantheon. In the meantime, Yong-ki has become a member of a powerful rival gang when the childhood friends eventually reunite as sharply attired gangsters, an alliance is struck, but their bond is tested by the lure of wealth, while political machinations well above street level reveal their plans to be hopelessly naïve. Jong-dae’s efforts to take care of this situation brings him into contact with Sung-hee (Kim Ji-soo, making a striking big screen comeback), a well-connected Madam who needs assistance with acquiring the deeds to surrounding paddy fields on the cheap. However, Gil-soo’s noble decision to leave a life of crime behind by opening a dry-cleaning business has led him to fall into debt. Jumping forward three years, Jong-dae has tried to make an honest life by residing honestly with former gang leader Gil-soo (Jung Jin-young) and his daughter Seon-hye (Seol Hyun). Desperate for quick cash, they join a group of thugs who have been tasked with breaking up a political meeting, only to be separated during the mayhem.
This volatile period is navigated through the intertwined fates of Jong-dae (Lee Min-ho) and Yong-ki (Kim Rae-won), who grew up together in an orphanage and are first seen as unkempt nobodies living in a home without heating that is scheduled for demolition. Set during the politically turbulent 1970s, Gangnam Blues takes the shady dealings and severe violence that fueled the redevelopment of the area from impoverished farmland to a fully-fledged part of South Korea’s capital as a backdrop for a fictional underworld saga. For viewers whose knowledge of the Gangnam district of Seoul is limited to the flashy personalities and consumerist attitude on display in Psy’s broadly satirical video for his global pop phenomenon “Gangnam Style”, the shantytown milieu of Yoo Ha’s latest foray into the crime genre may come as a surprise.