The Good, the Bad, the Weird

Since debuting with The Quiet Family (1998), KIM Jee-woon has worked across virtually the full spectrum of Korean genre cinema. Noir and thriller, horror and comedy, science fiction and action, spy films and period drama: his filmography forms a constantly shifting map of genre. Among his many accomplished works, which offers the purest cinematic thrill—the kind that fills a theater with the full-bodied exhilaration of genre cinema? The answer is The Good, the Bad, the Weird, a “kimchi western” adventure-action film rooted in the tradition of Korea’s classic Manchurian westerns. Opening with a train heist, the film races through a succession of locations and spectacles with breathless momentum. Three men pursue a treasure said to lie buried at a site marked on a map, but the Japanese military and rival bandit gangs soon join the chase, turning it into a large-scale action spectacle. This year, BIFAN presents the 130-minute French cut of The Good, the Bad, the Weird, KIM Jee-woon’s preferred version.