For those of you who do not know Chan-wook Park, The Handmaiden is a great start to get to know him. The Korean director is revered in Korea, and has gained some decent footing in the American arthouse world. Oldboy (not the crappy Spike Lee one) is still extremely creepy, twisty, and psychosexual today. The Handmaiden improves on that classic. Translating an Elizabethan novel into Japanese occupation of Korea in the 1930’s, Park tells another fascinating, sexy, twisty tale that I hope will reach more people soon, in spite of its multiple subtitles.
Sook-Hee (Tae-ri Kim) is a Korean pickpocket in 1930s Korea. Fellow scam artist “Count” Fujiwara (Jung-woo Ha) gives Sook-Hee a new assignment for quick rewards. She must become the Handmaiden to Lady Hideko (Min-hee Kim), a Japanese heiress with no husband. Apparently Sook-Hee does her job very well, because Lady Hideko starts attaching herself more and more intensely to Sook-Hee, jeopardizing her mission with the Count.
Park’s movies for me flow like Tarantino with an Asian twist. The leads use multi-lingual dialogue to slowly develop their characters (sometimes like Tarantino), but Park’s exclamation points incorporate sexual twists in addition to violence, Tarantino’s trademark. However, as a storyteller, Park likes onion peeling. The Handmaiden has three distinct parts, each revealing something different about the 3 characters involved and their relationship in the manipulation scheme. Park is less interesting in letting the twists and shocks define his movie though. Instead, the director uses the story to make our triad shine brighter, whether in beautifully executed period detail, or engaging in sexual bliss with their lovers. Park makes the pieces fit tonally mostly too; I was turned on, repulsed, and oddly laughing all when I was supposed too. Great directors play their films like violins, and Park’s talents are on full display in the Handmaiden.
And so are his muses, physically and figuratively. Each of the three leads takes on multiple personality traits. Jung-woo Ha excels at cunning lased with male privilege; the guy really uses his full arensal to obtain power, institutionally especially. Tae-ri Kim gets to play Korean Aladdin. Yes she steals, but it’s because she knows no other life. Her scenes with Min-hee Kim sizzle palpably; so when Sook-Hee has conflicting feelings about her assignment, we feel the pain the decision is causing her, a testament to Kim. However, Min-hee Kim is nothing short of amazing as Lady Hideko. Kim’s character lies at the center of all the scheming, meaning she has to react differently, on different levels, ALL the time. We’re seeing an actress having to play sexually curiousity on top of emotional manipulation, innocent girl on top of frustrated homebody, and disgusted partner on top of willing accomplice. Kim plays a cypher so well that at no point was I ever sure what was going on with her, high praise I haven’t seen since Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl.
The Handmaiden confirms to me Chan-wook Park’s prowess in the film industry. Certain filmmakers are so good they immediately pop to mind when I hear a movie has been released from their country. Park (Korea) joins Hayao Miyazaki (Japan) and Asghar Farhadi (Iran) as a director whose name will be mentioned in the first breath after some says “Check out this new [insert country] film.”