Movie Review: The Handmaiden

The Handmaiden

Directed by: Chan-wook Park.

Written by: Seo-Kyung Chung & Chan-wook Park based on the novel by Sarah Waters.

Starring: Min-hee Kim (Lady Hideko), Kim Tae-ri (Sook-Hee), Jung-woo Ha (Count Fujiwara), Jin-woong Jo (Uncle Kouzuki).

 

Too far is never far enough for Korean auteur Chan-wook Park – the filmmaker responsible for films like Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, Thirst and Stoker. His films are always violent, burst sexual taboos, and go to places that you never quite expect them to. Are they over the top? Sure – gleefully so at times, but not in a way that feels cheap. Park is a world class filmmaker, who deliberately pushes your buttons, and then stands back grinning. His latest, The Handmaiden, is two and half hours of pure, cinematic bliss.

 

The story takes place in Japanese occupied Korean in the 1930s. A conman, calling himself Count Fujiwara (Jung-woo Ha), a Korean posing as a Japanese man, arrives at the home of a “family” of female pickpockets and thieves. He recruits Sook-Hee (Kim Tae-ri), to pose as a handmaiden to a rich, Korean heiress, Lady Hideko (Min-hee Kim). She is worth a lot of money, and her only relative is an Uncle (Jin-woong Jo), who is obsessed with Japan, control her every move and plans to marry her, so he will have all the money. But Count Fujiwara has other ideas – the Uncle is in love with his vast library, and occasionally needs to services of a skilled forger to recreate his books – and this role is filled by the Count, a Korean man, posing as Japanese. He is also Lady Hideko’s art teacher. He plans on seducing her, marrying her, having her declared insane, and then having the money all to himself – and needs an inside man to help, which is why Sook-Hee will work as the Lady’s handmaiden – basically a personal servant who attends to her every need. Now, if you think I’ve given away too much plot – don’t worry. That’s all discussed in the first 10 minutes or so, and the film will twist and contort itself any number of ways through the course of the film – taking on the different perspectives of Sook-Hee and Lady Hideko in the first two acts, and then a more all-seeing one in the third. By the end, your dizzying at all the twists, but pleasantly so.

 

The film takes its time getting going – especially by Park’s standards. The first third seems like a fairly basic – if brilliantly stylized – conman moving, in which the perpetrator of the con and the victim, really do fall in love – although, with a lesbian twist. But Park is holding back in this sequence – which ends with a shocking twist, and then goes back over the same ground a second time, from a different point of view – this time holding nothing back. We see the same extended sex scene between the two women in both sections for example, but the first time, it almost seems sweet and innocent – the second time, it just keeps going and going, and is anything but innocent. That describes the movie as well. Yet, part of what makes the movie so good, is that each twist doesn’t make the characters less interesting or shallower – but the opposite. As they reveal themselves to each other, their connection deepens. As the film becomes more lurid, it also becomes more mesmerizing.

 

Park co-wrote the screenplay, based on a novel that was set in Victorian England, and transplanted it to Korea. In the mansion Lady Hideko lives in, he seems inspired by gothic romances – like Jane Eyre – and the mansion is slightly less show-offy, but just as brilliant as the one in Guillermo Del Toro’s similar gothic romance, Crimson Peak, from last year. Park’s film is better than Del Toro’s though, because it’s better written and performed – the characters seem real, no matter how insane the plot gets.

 

I know some will find the film the exploitive or hypocritical. It is, after all, a film about two women trapped by the male gaze – the two major male characters (and other, minor ones, whose roles I won’t spoil) look at Lady Hideko, not as a person, but as an object to get what they want – they barely see Sook-Hee at all. The story of the film has them break free of that prison – and yet is also one where it’s hard to deny the male gaze plays a part as well – all those sex scenes are as graphic and extended as those in Blue is the Warmest Color for example. I won’t argue against that point per se – except to say, that the sex scenes are in keeping with the rest of the film – bold and bracing and over the top and lurid, and certainly does keep in the themes of the movie in sight – that these two require men for absolutely nothing.

 

The Handmaiden is Park at the peak of his powers – arguably the best film he’s ever made, because it’s the most consistent from beginning to end, and although there are many shocking scenes in the film, it doesn’t seem like it was designed purely to shock (like some of his previous film). The film weaves its spell and doesn’t let go.

Movie Review: Stoker

Stoker
Directed by: Chan-wook Park.
Written by: Wentworth Miller.
Starring: Mia Wasikowska (India Stoker), Nicole Kidman (Evelyn Stoker), Matthew Goode (Charles Stoker), Dermot Mulroney (Richard Stoker), Phyllis Somerville (Mrs. McGarrick), Harmony Korine (Mr. Feldman), Lucas Till (Pitts), Alden Ehrenreich (Whip), Jacki Weaver (Gwendolyn Stoker), Ralph Brown (Sheriff).

Korean director Chan-wook Park has made a name for himself by directing ultra-violent movies in his home country. Yet as violent as his films are, they are also extremely well made, and for the most part intelligent. Oldboy (2003) is inarguably his masterpiece so far – a revenge film/melodrama that Quentin Tarantino obviously admired - the jury he headed at Cannes gave it the Grand Prize of Jury, essentially second place, which was interesting because while Cannes has no shied away from extreme Asian cinema, they have shied away from giving it prizes. Like many foreign filmmakers who find a following in North America, Park decided to come to Hollywood. His Hollywood debut is Stoker, a nasty, wonderfully directed and acted Hitchcock homage. While Stoker may not be as good as the Master’s best films – or Park’s own best films for that matter – it is still an early year highlight.

Mia Wasikowska stars as India Stoker, a sullen, depressed, extremely intelligent teenage girl, whose beloved father (Dermot Mulroney) dies in a car accident on her 18^th birthday. Her mother Eve (Nicole Kidman) doesn’t seem all that broken up by her husband’s death. And then on the day of his funeral her Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) shows up, and moves right into their house, and has eyes for his sister-in-law, who seems more than game. What makes this even stranger is that she didn’t even know she had an Uncle Charlie – but the longtime family housekeeper (Phyllis Sommerville) does know him – and she quickly vanishes. A relative (Jacki Weaver) will also show up one night, wanting to talk to Eve about Charlie, but she leaves the house after dinner, and India never sees her again either.

It is with mounting dread that we watch the movie, and we fear for this sullen, but innocent young girl who is at the mercy of a monstrous mother, and perhaps an even more monstrous Uncle (and if you’ve seen Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt, you know what we’re dealing with in Uncle Charlie). Wasikowska is great in her role here – seemingly still, but she is constantly watching and never misses anything. She is better in roles like this – or as the title character in Jane Eyre – than in more “heroic” roles like Burton’s Alice in Wonderful. Her beautiful, seemingly innocent face is capable of telling us so much, so when the movie starts twisting, and the plot twists become more and more ridiculous, Wasikowska keeps the film grounded and believable. We may not believe what is going on around her, but Wasikowska makes us believe in how India responds to it.

Kidman is excellent as well, even if Eve is a tad one-dimensional – she is the monster of a mother, who doesn’t really love her daughter, as much as she feels jealous of her – jealous that her late husband spent more time with India than with her. And when Charlie comes in, and outwardly prefers Eve to India, she is so blinded by her own pride, that she doesn’t see what is happening right in front of her eyes – that Charlie has no real interest in her. He only has eyes for India. Matthew Goode is good as Charlie, a charming mask, an easy laugh and all charm. He is the mystery at the center of the film. Where did he come from? Why did he come back? Given the name of the movie, Park’s last film Thirst, and given that Charlie always leaves his plate untouched, you’d be forgiven in thinking that he is perhaps a vampire. Goode gamely plays along, not offering too many clues as to what his secrets might be.

Perhaps more of a star than any of the cast members is Park and his direction. This is a wonderfully directed movie, with excellent, creepy sound design, and a camera that looks unblinkingly at the horror on screen. Some will inarguably say that the film’s style is over the top and trumps the subject, but Park’s style perfectly matches the over the top subject matter. The violence in the film is strong, bloody and potent – and yet still cannot hold a candle to what Park has put on screen in the past – because it doesn’t need to.

Of course, as with most movies of its sort, Stoker’s weakest moments are when the secrets the film has worked so hard to conceal come pouring out – this time they are both horrific and disturbing, and yet still kind of bland and predictable. Yet what Park is able to do is twist individual moments brilliantly – making us think one thing, only to have his camera pull back and reveal an entirely different meaning (the scene in the shower is the most brilliant example of this). The film begins and ends at the same spot, and yet what was beautiful at first, has now become horrific when we understand the meaning. With Stoker, Park succeeds wonderfully in doing what Hitchcock loved to do – playing the audience like a piano.

Movie Review: Thirst

Thirst *** 1/2
Directed By: Chan-wook Park.
Written By: Chan-wook Park and Seo-Gyeong Jeong based on the novel by Emile Zola.
Starring: Kang-ho Song (Priest Sang-hyeon), Ok-vin Kim (Tae-joo), Hae-sook Kim (Lady Ra), Ha-kyun Shin (Kang-woo), In-hwan Park (Priest Noh), Dal-su Oh (Yeong-doo), Young-chang Song (Seung-dae), Mercedes Cabral (Evelyn), Eriq Ebouaney (Immanuel).

I wonder if Chan-wook Park has read the Twilight books. I wonder this because Thirst, his new film, bares some striking similarities to Stephanie Meyer’s books. It is a tale of obsessive love between a reluctant vampire and a human. The vampire here is a Priest, Sang-hyeon (the great Kang-ho Song) who with the best of intentions travels to Africa to take part in a test of a vaccine for a deadly new virus. All the other test patients die, but Sang does not. This is because one of the blood transfusions he receives is from a vampire, and that powerful blood fights off the disease. He becomes a sort of folk hero - the Bandaged Saint - and people want him to pray for their sick loved ones. What they do not know is in order to keep the disease in his blood in check, he needs to drink human blood. Since he works in a hospital, he has access to it. He takes blood from a coma patient he was friendly with. It does not hurt the patient, and it saves Sang from having to kill. It’s win-win.

That is until Sang reconnects with an old friend Kang-woo (Ha-kyun Shin), who now has cancer. Miraculously, after he prays from him, the cancer disappears. Sang is adopted into the family, where he starts spending more and more time. He does not much like Kang-woo - he is a weak, whiny little man - or his mother, Lady Ra (Hae-sook Kim), who is a cruel, spiteful lady. But he is drawn to Kang-woo’s wife Tae-joo (Ok-win Kim), a sad young woman. Like himself, she was abandoned by her family at a young age, when Lady Ra took her in. She has spent most of her life as essentially a slave for the family, and forced into a marriage that she never wanted. Sang cannot keep his eyes off of her, and when they meet on the street late one night, they share a connection. They immediately want each other, but Sang is stricken with guilt over his feelings. Whenever he gets an erection, he beats his himself with his flute. But much like his thirst for human blood, he can only control his sexual feelings for so long before he cannot take it anymore, and gives into his baser desires.

It is around this point where the focus of the movie shifts from Sang to Tae-joo, who is one of the most complex, fascinating female characters of the year. We feel sympathy for her almost immediately, as she after all has spent almost her entire life as a slave to this family. She does all the housework, the cooking and takes care of Kang-woo’s needs. When she takes out a pair of shears, and mimes killing her husband, we understand that urge. When she runs out on the street night after night, we get that to. She is drawn to Sang because as a Priest he is supposed to be unattainable. When he reveals his secret to her, she is at first horrified, but quickly gets over it. She is turned on even more by the idea of having sex with a vampire than she was by having sex with a priest. But soon having sex with him is not enough. She starts manipulating him to try and get out of her situation. And then she decides that maybe being a vampire might be fun. She does not have the control that Sang has though.

I mentioned Twilight off the top of the review, and it was something that I came back to time and again while watching Thirst. Twilight has a romantic view of being in love with a vampire. The erotic thrill, the self restraint and deprivation (Edward and Bella of course wait until after they are married before the have sex - and of course when they do it is mind blowing). But Thirst takes a much darker look. Sang, like Edward, falls in love with a woman, and is willing to give up everything for her. But unlike Bella, Tae-joo is not worth it. The kinky thrill becomes too much for her. The power she has over Sang, and then over everyone else when she becomes a vampire is too much for her. She feels invincible, and she goes at it full bore. Newcomer Ok-vin Kim gives one of the most mesmerizing performances of the year, alternating between sadness, glee, lust and sadistic pleasure. It is the type of performance that never gets nominated at the Oscars - but should.

Chan-wook Park has made a name for himself with extreme films like Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance - his loosely related “revenge trilogy”, which were all brutally violent to the point where no matter how acclaimed they were (and Oldboy was hugely acclaimed), no major studios would pick them up for distribution. Thirst, while just as bloody as the other films, is also a little more over the top than his other films. There is gallons of blood spilled in the film, but when it happens it is a strange mixture of erotic, comic and horrific - no where more so than in the scene where Sang turns Tae-joo into a vampire, as he forces her to suck blood from his wrist, while at the same time sucking blood from her. Or a scene where Tae-joo throws up an impossible amount of blood in a pure, white room. The sex scenes are equally over the top. While they do not require the acrobatics that say the scenes in Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution did, they are not really realistic either. All these scenes are meant to shock, horrify and titillate the audience - and they succeed brilliantly.

Thirst is an odd film, but one that is never less than completely fascinating and involving. From one scene to the next, I honestly had no idea what was going to happen. While it may sound like a criticism to say that Thirst is a horror movie that is not really scary, in this case it isn’t. Thirst isn’t meant to be scary. It’s got much bigger issues on its mind.