Park Chan-wook

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The Handmaiden (South Korea)

The Handmaiden Film Difficulty Ranking: 2Image result for the handmaiden poster

Did you think Gone Girl or Oldboy was good? Well here’s another thriller for you to figure out. The Handmaiden will keep you guessing throughout the film. What is being hidden from you? In addition you’ll witness some gorgeous set and costume design and a lot of nudity (probably not one to take your mum to see). If you have a chance to watch this in the cinema – don’t wait!

Why Watch The Handmaiden?
  • You want to see something thrilling and erotic
  • If you liked Gone Girl or any of Park-Chan wook’s earlier films (definitely check out his classic revenge thriller Oldboy)
  • To see colonial Korea recreated in costume and setting (the house is like the mansion in The Shining)
  • Do you want to find out what is in the basement?
The Breakdown

The Handmaiden starts with Sook-hee, a petty thief living with a family of con-artists in Japanese ruled Korea. Her prospects are pretty much non-existent. However, she is taken to become the maid of a wealthy Japanese lady living in a colonial palace in a remote part of the country.

We soon find out that one of her fellow con-artists, Count Fujiwara, has set her up to become Lady Hideko’s handmaiden. His goal is for her to help her seduce the rich heiress into marrying him and for them to split the profits. You should note how she acts throughout the first part of the film. Her character is at the center of a number of laughs. She is a target for the other maids, she storms through the house with shoes on, and gets scared on her first night in the mansion. The director, Park Chan-wook uses her role to play with us.

Park Chan-wook tells the story like piecing together a puzzle. Initially he gives us a decent idea of the story-line. We think we know what is going on until he places the next puzzle piece and changes what we see. He is a master of guise (just think how he tricks you in Oldboy). In addition, the characters hide a lot at the start and slowly reveal more and more as the film progresses. Park Chan-wook is a master of surprise.

Conclusion

The Handmaiden is another classic thriller from Park Chan-wook. If you like films with twists and turns (like the old M. Night Shyamalan films) you will love Park Chan-wook.

 

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Snapshot of Beyond Fest 2022 – Los Angeles’s Most Popular Film Festival

If you’re looking for a film festival that’s just as likely to screen a cult horror film as a classic John Woo action alongside a bunch of film premiere’s from Hollywood and abroad, you should check out Beyond Fest. It claims to be the highest attended genre film festival in the U.S. – which we can definitely believe as both premieres we saw were sold out. Plus, the slate catered brilliantly to the genre community in Los Angeles with screenings from a diverse range of films that spanned from Tollywood and Indian Cinema legend S.S. Rajamouli to premieres of the latest Park Chan-wook and Hollywood horror films.

Beyond Fest Premieres

We only saw two film premieres at the 2022 edition of the festival. Holy Spider, Ali Abbasi’s long anticipated return following his amazingly weird fantasy-romance-thriller Border, as well as Park Chan-wook’s latest (no introduction needed) Decision to Leave.

As expected, Holy Spider was a very well made true crime thriller set in the holy city of Mashhad. It follows the killer violently taking out his victims simultaneously as a rogue journalist reporting the story. The violence is a little exploitative, and the killer’s perspective in these moments comes across a bit distasteful situated within the current popularity of the true crime genre in which serial killers have been turned into celebrities. The focus on his perspective also diminishes the impact of the anti-patriarchal quest of the female journalist, which generates the film’s political message. The violence is more shocking than the anti-patriarchal society, and the film leans into this by showing both sides. Following the originality of Border, it was also surprising to find a very ‘by the book’ true crime thriller. Apart from one speaking corpse, there was nothing to identify this film as something from the same director. It’s a well-made film, but not as original or biting (politically) as desired.

Our film viewing history also affected expectations for Decision to Leave. Having only seen Oldboy and Handmaiden, we expected Park Chan-wook’s latest to be defined by some weird sexual scenes too. Instead, Decision to Leave proved to be one of the best modern noirs we’ve seen, complete with a very normal romance, at least in comparison to the films mentioned above. It follows a bored in marriage detective that falls in love with the suspect of a murder case. The brilliance in the film comes from the little things, such as the humorous clues of a brewing romance (including expensive sushi), and a hilarious way to take part in a knife fight. Park Chan-wook also uniquely meshes two shots into one to more efficiently convey the detective process. One example of this is when he merges the detective on stakeout with shots of the suspect by placing the detective ‘in’ her apartment talking through the detective process with the suspect. Another is when Chan-wook edits the detective into the reconstruction of the murder. These innovative scenes along with the injections of humor make Decision to Leave immensely engaging to watch.

Tollywood Takeover – S.S. Rajamouli Tribute

Following the success of the Netflix release of RRR, S.S. Rajamouli’s latest was re-released in a broader range of cinemas nationwide (notably those that don’t regularly show new Indian releases, outside of areas targeting large Indian communities). Without the Netflix buzz, we may not have received a Rajamouli tribute at Beyond Fest as not many people turned out to watch it in the U.S. in its initial release. We wrote about Rajamouli’s films deserving to be seen on the big screen a few months ago, so we were thrilled to see that 7 of his films were programmed across Los Angeles as part of Beyond Fest- most hosted at The Aero. As expected, it was a great experience, with audiences cheering throughout the film for all the iconic moments, and even getting up to dance for the big musical numbers. Whilst it probably doesn’t compare to screenings in India, it was amazing to watch immensely fun films with an audience that was equally up for it. Despite the premieres from Park Chan-wook and Ali Abbasi, these Rajamouli screenings were the highlight of our Beyond Fest 2022 experience.

Refer back to the Beyond Fest website for updates on future editions of the festival.