Low Life is the story of a man named Tae-woong who led a turbulent life during the political and social turmoil from 1958 to 1972. The story starts with Tae-woong in high school in Seoul in 1958. He is an honorable fighter in his school. He may be tough, but his eyes sparkle with sincerity. He becomes a gangster amid a changing society that goes through political turmoil. His life as a gangster ends in failure. He goes through jobs from gangster, to film producer, to debt collector, and to constructor. He grows old and loses the sparkle in his eyes for he has now become a competent surviving machine. Director Im Kwon-taek has been trying to merge Korean traditional aesthetics into his films. In his 99th film, Low Life, he returns to his days of youth. His reserved expression of emotions reaches the point of dryness. Episodes unfold rapidly. Thus, he depicts the futile image of his time. This era is not valuable enough to cherish or to revive. Nor is it a time which prepared its future from its trials and errors. It was merely a brutal time where people were wasted of their spirits and humanistic characters. Low Life is not a story about a hero. Nor is it a study of one man. It is a miserable story of an era.