This is a 2016 Korean gem of a film! It has a good story with surprising twists, excellent acting, and beautiful photography. The movie is quite long at 2:25 hours for the regular version and almost 2:50 for the extended version, which is the one I just saw.
The first scenes when we are seeing the house where most of the events take place are breathtaking. The quality of the image is top-notch and it is obvious right from the beginning.
The story is set in Korea when it was under the control of Japan. In order to achieve this control, there were some Koreans who sold off their country for personal riches. A talented conman knows about one of these Koreans living a great with a wealthy Japanese family and he plans to right this wrong. He wants to somehow steal the wealth of this Japanese family and keep it to himself.
In order to do this, he joins forces with another Korean girl with the goal of infiltrating the Japanese home as their servant girl, specifically the handmaid of the young heiress. Even though this plot sounds exciting enough it is not even half of what this movie is about.
The movie has several genres, it has drama obviously, a little bit of thriller, romance and there are even some adult scenes that are really explicit. It is divided into 3 parts which are of big help in organizing the events. I was surprised to see a major twist in the middle of the movie and it perfectly marked the ending of part 1.
Adult topics are a big deal in this story so be aware of this when deciding to watch this film. Some scenes really seemed like if they were taken from an Asian porn studio. Given the fact this movie is very intimate, I understand why these scenes were added, besides there is also a secondary character that is a sexual pervert and is a big influence in the development of a key character.
If you enjoy well-written crime/vengeance stories then you should certainly give this film a watch. The director is the same from the Korean classic Oldboy, Chan-wook Park. I will certainly be checking more of his works in the coming days/weeks.
The best
- Great twists! Especially the one in the middle of the movie, it took me by surprise!
- Interesting plot and beautiful execution.
The worst
- At almost 3 hours long I was feeling a little bit tired by the end. This might not have happened if I had decided to watch the regular version though.
- The adult scenes make this film a non-family movie.
More information: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/290098 Review: AAA In numbers: 7.5/10
