Highlights
Netflix’s Korean Language Crime Drama set in the end of 20th century Mexico where the immigrants from Korea are settling in Bogota, a bustling city where they make a living out of illegal textile trade. Helmed by Kim Seong-je, ‘Bogota City of the Lost’ paints a slow burn rise and fall of Korean settlers in the city where safety and security are out of question and reserved only for the rich. The movie is available for streaming in the OTT Giant platform, here’s the review to make a decision.
Bogota City of the Lost Plot
A 19 year old leaves Korea after the unstable condition during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and fled to Borata, a city in Mexico with his parents. His father who served in the Korean army takes them to a fellow Sergeant whose life ‘he saved’ and is expecting his help for saving his life. While the fabricated lie put out by Sergeant Park, an influential and affluent businessman in Bogota, puts the 19 year old Kook – he to work in his wife’s textile shop and also for transporting his illegal goods from across the borders. While Kook- he gives his all and slowly develops the trust of Park and his associates, his worth is also eyed by Park’s opponent Soo-yeong.
Passing years of living in the dangerous part safeguarding their lives and doing illegal trade in order to survive hand to table, Kook-he makes a way for himself only to see betrayals and hurdles from outside and his own clan.
The Positive Aspects
The main reason for streaming the movie is the casting and the setting that is accurate and convincing along the timeline and narration with interesting characters who from the first sight are given a clear role to play and have done it to their best potential.
The unknown aspect of the Korean immigration and how the people survived in a completely new country with a foreign tongue and vocation makes up for a unique premise, especially with Song Joong-ki, Lee Hee-joon and Kwan Hae-hyo uplifting the scenes.
A Stand out crime drama that is neither bloody nor subtle, ‘Bogota City of the Lost’ leans more towards the psychological and survival aspects of the Korean immigrants who in order to exist in an alien city fights off stones of unacceptance, policy parity and the sheer safety issue in the city.
After moving to Bogotá for a chance at a better life, a young Korean man rises through the Colombian black market — risking peril for a shot at success.#BogotaCityoftheLost is coming February 4, only on #Netflix#SongJoongki #LeeHeejun #KwonHaehyo #ParkJihwan #ChoHyunchul… pic.twitter.com/CGVQx4mL0R
— Netflix K-Content (@netflixkcontent) January 27, 2025
The Negative Aspects
The movie all throughout maintains a slow narrative that is heavy on dialogues and lacks much needed emotions that would have been more effective in transcending the history and the rise and fall of power balance.
In the era of Korean Content booming in streaming sites, the movie could have easily depended on the narrative that is either fast paced or backed by emotions, both missing in the movie. While the character of Kook-he’s mother was used for a few scenes that actually shifted an understanding like the funeral scene or his father stealing from them.
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The Verdict
For a Crime Drama, the pacing of ‘Bogota City of the Lost’ varies from a clumsy bar fight that stages the difference between the two gangs or the car chasing sequences that end up blunt. While the movie has its peak moments like the Climax, the writers fail to bank on the chances to recall certain moments from the past or recollect the dialogues that would have been fitted properly. Overall ‘Bogota City of the Lost’ is a slumber watch that will neither distract nor engage your gossip session over a movie night.
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