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In 2005, Kim wrote and directed "A Bittersweet Life" (2005), his first collaboration with actor Lee Byung-hun (whom he would later work with in "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" and "I Saw the Devil"). The film was an ultra-stylish and ultra-violent gangster and mobster picture that was both a critical and commercial success in South Korea. Lee Byung-hun won Best Actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards and Hwang Jung-min won a Best Supporting Actor award at Korea's Grand Bell Awards. Kim also won the "Action Asia Award" at the 2006 Deauville Asian Film Festival.