In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Tuesday 13 June 2017

THE HANDMAIDEN [2016]

aka Ah-ga-ssi
South Korean director Park Chan-wook steps slightly out of his comfort zone with the romantic drama The Handmaiden.
Set in Korea during the Japanese forced occupation, the film is broken up into three separate chapters, telling of a petty thief who is secretly hired by a con-man to swindle a wealthy but mildly unstable Japanese heiress.
Chan-wook directing a romantic period drama?  Fear not, the film is filled with plenty of erotic twist & turns that are bizarre, disturbing, darkly comical and occasionally grotesque.  With plenty of double-triple crosses and devilish deceit, one can't help but get swept away in it's elegant grandeur and sweeping romance to not notice how twisted it actually is.   This is Chan-wook at his most mature and intoxicating to date.  

5 old men who love dirty stories out of 5

No comments: