The Handmaiden (아가씨)(2016)

Director: Park Chan-Wook
Writers: Park Chan-Wook, Seo-Kyeong Jeong, Sarah Waters (Novel-Fingersmith)
DOP: Chung-Hoon Chung
Cast: Min-Hee Kim, Tae-Ri Kim, Jung-Woo Ha, Jin-Woong Jo

A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.

Park Chan-Wook is a director whose reputation will always be connected with the enormously successful film 'Oldboy' which is just one in his thematically connected 'Vengeance Trilogy'. Most people wouldn't have seen the other two in the trilogy but they both are arguably quite superior to Oldboy which relies a bit too much on the shock factor concerning its twist. Sympathy for Mr Vengeance is quite brutal to watch and Lady Vengeance is a quite cool feministic take on the vengeance. His only other Korean film I've watched is the super fun Vampire flick 'Thirst' which is just off the rocker. His English language debut 'Stoker' received mixed responses but I found it to be really good with a very cool ending.

Handmaiden is a period film set during second world war. The basic aim of the handmaiden lady in the film is revealed upfront and twist is connected to this reveal at around the midpoint of the film. Film works like a comedy one mainly due to the mannerisms of the Handmaiden but there are some kinky aspects to it as suggested by the posters. The last act is quite dedicated to some torture scenes which just doesn't sync well with the rest of the film. The overall balance is titled too much towards comedy which kind of undermines the other aspects. It is overall a very good watch but in my opinion it is the weakest one from Park out of what I've seen. Technically it is very good and I saw from a review of it that they had different coloured subtitles depending on the language spoken, Japanese or Korean. Those kind of things I might have missed through translated subtitles.

If I were to rank his films, it would be:

1. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
2. Oldboy
3. Stoker
4. Lady Vengeance
5. Thirst
6. The Handmaiden

Rating: 3.5/5

Stoker (2013)

Director: Chan-Wook Park
Writer:    Wentworth Miller
Cast:      Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode

After India's father dies in an accident, her uncle Charlie who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her unstable mother. She becomes increasingly infatuated with him even though she suspects he has some ulterior motives.

The film marks the English language debut of the Korean director Chan-wook Park who is known all over for his 'Vengeance Trilogy'. I am not a big fan of directors doing work in languages they are not comfortable with as many things don't translate well in the script. But Park pulls it off and the film is not dialog heavy which might have helped him. Like his other films it is very atmospheric and the cinematography and the sounds are out of this world. 

The film is based on a script by Wentworth Miller and has been going round in Hollywood circles for a long time. The film didn't do well at the box office and kind of got mixed reactions from the critics. It is to be expected when a film doesn't compromise on stuff. A must watch.

Rating: 5/5

Bakjwi (Thirst) (2009)

Director:    Park Chan-wook
Writers:     Park Chan-wook, Emile Zola. Seo-Gyeong Jeong
Language: Korean
A priest is stricken with vampirism and is forced to abandon his ascetic ways after a failed medical experiment. He falls in love with his friend's wife.

The film can comfortably belong to many genres- Vampires, Noir, Comedy. I didn't like the first half of the film but the second half makes up for it. The cinematography is excellent as always in a  Park Chan-wook film.

Rating: 3.5/5

Oldeuboi (Oldboy) (2003)

Director:  Park Chan-wook
Writer:     Garon Tsuchiya (Story), Nobuaki Minegishi, Hwang Jo Yun, Park Chan-wook
Language:Korean
Watched the Korean revenge thriller classic again for the second time and it was great again. The film is adapted from the Japanese Manga with the same name. The film had won the Grand Prix at Cannes after getting high praise from the chairman of the jury, Quentin Tarantino. Choi Min-sik is just great as Oh Dae-su.

Oldboy is the second film in the vengeance trilogy. The three films are not connected as part of the story and therefore you can watch in any order you like. In my opinion the first one, 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance' is the best film of the lot but its not as entertaining as Oldboy. The third one 'Lady Vengeance' was also good but not as good as the other two.


Rating: 4.5/5