THE HANDMAIDEN — CANNES 2016

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Cannes, France —Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook delighted critics and festival audiences in Cannes with his lushly erotic, BDSM-tinged, period drama of conspiracy and revenge.

Formal production designs and keen cinematography drink in dynamic performances (by Kim Min-Hee and Kim Tae-Ri) teeming with an urgent lesbian sensuality. The ensemble performances are flawless.

“The Handmaiden” turned up the heat on the Riviera just when cool winds were blowing across the yacht-dotted shoreline.

The film, set in ‘30s era Korea during the Japanese occupation, might not have been a shoe-in for the Palme but you can bet audiences will go back for repeated viewings of this artfully composed film so full of sensual suspense and intrigue.

This baroque narrative is set in Korea under Japanese rule during the early-to- mid 20th century. Sookee (played by Tae Ri Kim), a skilled pickpocket, is hired to live with her uncle Kouzuki (Jin-woong Jo) on his lavish estate to take part in a scheme that involves her serving as a handmaiden to Kouzuki's Japanese heiress wife Lady Hideki (Min-hee Kim). Erotic, social, emotional and political intrigue follow.

"The Handmaiden" features one of the most outrageous scenes of oral gratification ever committed to film (pornography included).

Stunning.

During its opening week in Korea, "The Handmaiden" set a new record for an R-rated film. More than 1.8 million tickets were sold.

You don’t want to miss this one.

Rated R. 145 mins. 

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THE FRONT LINE

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South Korea’s impressive entry for the 2011 foreign-language Oscar race offers a different kind of war picture in its foreshadowed setting of the blood-soaked front line between North and South Korea during the 1950-53 war.

Crafted with profound understanding of the war’s complexity, director Jang Hun makes palpable the wide range of emotions of soldiers caught up in a Sisyphean struggle of repeatedly winning and losing occupation of the strategically important Aerok Hill. The stench of death permeates the area where a strange aura of insanity pervades.

The death of a South Korean commander of the “Alligator Company,” by a regiment pistol, points to the possibility he was murdered by one of his soldiers. Lieutenant of Defense Security Command Kang Eun-pyo (Shin Ha-kyun) is sent to investigate the situation to discover if a mole is operating within the ranks of the beleaguered unit. Kang is surprised to discover that his former college buddy Kim Su-hyeok (Ko Soo) whom he believed killed in action has taken over command of Alligator Company.

Other surprises follow. Kang finds that soldiers from both sides of the conflict have been exchanging gifts and notes in a kind of rough-hewn mailbox hidden in the floor of a bunker in the hill. Precisely articulated flashbacks fill in the blanks of Kang’s investigation even as the ongoing war ebbs and flows with unrelenting pitched battles. “The Front Line” emphasizes the theme that war itself is the enemy of all peoples. Being a soldier means committing suicide in an abstract and prolonged way for which there is no reasonable rationale. The film fills in an essential missing chapter in a war that is frequently overlooked.

“The Front Line” emphasizes the theme that war itself is the enemy of all peoples. Being a soldier means committing suicide in an abstract and prolonged way for which there is no reasonable rationale. The film effectively fills in an essential missing chapter in a war that has wrongfully been eclipsed in history books by the war in Viet Nam.

Not Rated. 133 mins.

I SAW THE DEVIL

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Following in the tracks of celebrated Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park, director Ji-woon Kim affects a similar tone of grotesque violence to incite reflection about social values.

Byung-hun Lee plays Soo-hyun, a South Korean government secret agent whose pregnant fiancée is brutally murdered and dismembered by serial killer Kyung-chul, played by Chan-wook Park regular Min-sik Choi. The agent uses information supplied by his fiancée's retired police chief father to track down suspects.

The trail leads Soo-hyun to Kung-chul, but the agent chooses to employ a shocking brand of justice. He viciously tortures the serial killer before releasing him, albeit with a GPS device planted in his stomach, so he can repeat the hunt-and-torment process again and again. It's a flawed plan that leaves a lot of innocent bystanders dead in its wake. But there's an unforeseen upside too.

"I Saw the Devil" is a gritty and gory discourse on the nature of revenge. The film falls neatly alongside Chan-wook Park's cinema of vehemence. It's a visceral experience that leaves you shaken, and with plenty to think about.

Not Rated. 144 mins.