Bogotá: City of the Lost Review
Director: Kim Seong-je
Date Created: 2025-02-08 23:49
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Bogotá: City of the Lost Review: Directed by Kim Seong-je, this Korean crime film (보고타: 마지막 기회의 땅) stars Song Joong-ki, Lee Hee-joon, Kwon Hae-hyo, Kim Jong-soo, Cho Hyun-chul, Park Ji-hwan and others. The movie is set in Colombia and follows the story of Kook-hee (Joong-ki), a Korean immigrant who arrives in Bogotá with his family after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. What begins as a desperate search for survival in an unfamiliar land soon turns into an intense journey of power, greed, and crime as Kook-hee rises through the ranks of the underworld.
While Bogotá has all the elements of a gritty gangster film—ruthless ambition, cultural conflict, and moments of tension—it struggles to maintain its momentum, ultimately falling into a formulaic pattern that feels too familiar.
Bogotá: City of the Lost Review
During the initial part of Netflix’s Bogotá, it kept showing its irresistible appeal to me. Kook-hee’s arrival in Colombia next to his family with no resources but expectation and despair produces an unfiltered sense of reality in this scene. Beyond being a conventional gangster movie the film successfully presents the cultural differences between Koreans and Colombians. The story gains emotional resonance because it shows Kook-hee’s hard work against his father’s alcoholism downfall and both explicate the immigrant experience across foreign lands.
The starting part of the film delivered unpredictable elements combined with subtle moments of humour. The start of Kook-hee’s criminal journey does not involve immediate gang work since he accepts various jobs before entering this path of crime. The audience will find his gradual evolution from an immigrant breaking against the system to becoming a significant operator in Bogotá’s criminal circle deeply interesting. Through the first hour, the movie maintains an original tone by blending intense scenes with basic drama which it matches with dark comedy components successfully.
The second half of the movie creates unsettling momentum loss for viewers. The story develops conventional criminal elements when Kook-hee immerses completely into criminal activities. The storyline of this movie shares many typical crime drama elements from Scarface and Narcos but lacks the depth that makes compelling storytelling through strong character emotions.
The rapid boost of Kook-hee’s political clout remains one of the main problems throughout the narrative. The first part of the film establishes his difficulties in detail but the smuggling phase proceeds at an excessive pace. We don’t feel the story behind his underworld success because he achieves power abruptly within Bogota’s criminal scene. The film did not deliver any specific moment which would make his metamorphosis appear natural and worthy.
The film’s narrative frays because it establishes additional storylines that do not authentically advance the primary plot. My interest in the story faded away when the subsequent half of the narrative failed to deliver the gripping tension along with unexpected twists which fuelled my interest throughout the initial sections. The movie avoids exploring Kook-hee’s inner turmoil and fails to introduce new story elements resulting in an average universal crime storyline.
One standout feature of the film was its authentic representation of Bogotá city. The film avoids using the commonly seen Yellow colour filter that many Hollywood movies apply to Latin America as it presents Bogotá’s authentic visuals. The film presents a realistic depiction of urban dangers and life by using intense yet involving visual techniques that avoid unrealistic colour modification. The absence of stereotypical portrayals in a South American Korean film made it a pleasant viewing experience.
The movie has strong production values together with its stylish costume elements. The movie takes you on a realistic journey to Bogotá’s streets from the 1990s including markets along with dark pubs and dangerous recesses between buildings. The designers paid close attention to minor details which enabled them to create realistic and genuine living areas.
Kook-hee demonstrates steady performance quality through Song Joong-ki yet his character appears shallow in the story’s middle section. The character begins as both determined and desperate following his first scenes in which his early challenges are presented effectively. After achieving power Kook-hee loses all senses of emotion which makes him hard to relate to.
Among the supporting cast members, Lee Hee-joon remains the most memorable through his portrayal of Kook-hee’s loyalty-tested friend who becomes his adversary. The psychological deterioration of his character becomes more captivating than Kook-hee’s transformations because his plight appears more deeply rooted inside him. The performance of Kwon Hae-hyo as an ageing gangster brings depth to the movie although the side characters including Cho Hyun-chul and Park Ji-hwan remain underdeveloped.
Summing Up
Through its exploration of Korean immigrants involved in Colombian criminal activities Bogotá: City of the Lost introduces new perspectives to the gangster genre. The initial sections maintain viewer interest through its cultural conflicts and well-developed world and gradual development of Kook-hee. Throughout the progression of the story the plot becomes more obvious without meaningful emotional content or thrilling moments.
There was much room to love this film because it showed promise as an uncommon criminal narrative. The movie becomes forgetful as it fails to innovate the crime genre despite its initial promise. Viewers who love gangster films can get value from Bogotá but it fails to introduce anything groundbreaking to the genre.
Bogotá: City of the Lost 2025 is now streaming on Netflix.
