Review: 'The Handmaiden' will seduce you
Posted Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at 4:49 PM Central
Last updated Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at 4:50 PM Central
by John Couture
Let's face it, we tend to live in a lazy society. No, I'm not talking about anything related to the current political landscape, I'm talking about foreign films and our fear of having to read while we watch a movie.
From a certain point of view, I can understand your trepidation if you believe that reading the subtitles will take you out of the film and ruin the experience, but I challenge you that a compelling film will entertain no matter what. There's just something about a transformative cinematic experience that will transcend everything to speak to the audience.
Park Chan-wook is a filmmaker whose work certainly falls into that category. You might not be familiar with the Korean writer/director, but you should. His claim to fame was the original Oldboy. No, not that less enjoyable Hollywood remake with Josh Brolin, this Oldboy is the original gritty film that put Park Chan-wook on the map.
While his followup films were visually appealing and enjoyable, none of them resonated much with the western world until last year's The Handmaiden. It debuted last year in competition at Cannes and won rave reviews for its visual style and calculated plot that have garnered Chan-wook numerous comparisons to Hitchcock.
I would even go further, putting him on par with contemporary visual giants in Hollywood ala Quentin Tarantino and Guillermo del Toro. If you don't believe me, check out The Handmaiden and tell me you don't see a little Wes Anderson there.
But I get it, you don't like to read.
Trust me, The Handmaiden is a film that delivers on a level that you forget about the subtitles after a few minutes. It's a whole body experience that takes you on a twisting journey unlike many of the films from last year. While thematically completely different, the visceral viewing experience of The Handmaiden rivaled that of watching Hollywood films The Lobster and Green Room.
The story is simple, yet complex, and I won't spoil it for you. Trust me, it's one that you will won't to discover on your own. Quite simply, a young female thief is recruited by a con man to pose as a Handmaiden for a wealthy heiress that he is trying to defraud. Of course, best laid plans and all that.
If you have heard of the film at all, I'm betting that it was the erotic nature of it as it certainly makes quite the statement in that regard. In many ways, I found that the use of eroticism in The Handmaiden was akin to the eroticism found in Blue is the Warmest Color. That is that it wasn't simply in the film for the sake of shock or puerile interests, no the eroticism of the film is a character in and of itself and one that will move you in ways that you never imagined.
Park Chan-wook hasn't had much success breaking down the barriers in Hollywood that are present for Korean filmmakers, but I'm hopeful that the success of The Handmaiden will afford him greater opportunities. The one filmmaker that I most compare him to when I watch his films is Christopher Nolan and I think he's done pretty well for himself when studios finally trusted him with a bigger budget.
I think you could definitely see that sort of cross-over success for Park Chan-wook and when it comes, you could say that you knew him when. The Handmaiden is now available on DVD. I suppose if I had one gripe, that would be towards Sony who opted not to release a Blu-ray version packed with special features. Perhaps, one day we will get to see one.
