Cruel Winter Blues Sociology

"Cruel Winter Blues" starts as another crime film revolving around revenge, but as the story proceeds, it becomes something very different.
Two mafia guys, veteran Jae-moon and his subordinate, local boy Chi-guk arrive to the small town of Bolgyo in order to ambush and kill Dae-sik, a member of a rival gang. During their stay, they start to adapt to the everyday life in the town: Chi-guk associates himself with the local taekwondo school, since he used to be a champion in the sport, and Jae-moon becomes friendly with the owner of a local restaurant, who happens to be Dae-sik's mother.
Lee Jeong-beom, who penned and directed the film in his debut, built it around two axes: Jae-moon's relationship with the rest of the characters, and revenge. In the first axis, the first relationship that is examined is the one with Chi-guk, who, although he is a taekwondo champion, he is utterly subservient to

Seol Kyeong-gu proves once more his prowess in portraying loathsome, rotten characters, who eventually manage to become likeable. the one who steals the show, though, is Nah Moon-hee, who gives an astonishing performance as Dae-sik's mother, portraying a cruel on the exterior, but actually very sensitive character. The award she received from the Blue Dragon Film Awards was utterly justified. Lastly, Jo Han-seon is functional as Chi-guk, in an evidently less demanding role.
Kim Dong-cheon's cinematography is elaborate, realistically depicting the rundown, isolated environment of the small town while the editing by Shin Min-kyung presents the various flashbacks in a highly understandable fashion elaborately embedding them in the rest of the film.
"Cruel Winter Blues" is a distinct entry in a genre that has almost become