lasttimeisaw A remake of a classic masterpiece is always been a thankless task, but since half a century has passed since 1960, when Ki-young Kim's original version came out, it is a considerable and understandable timing to do it against all odds. With the A-list actress Do-young Kim on board, at least, tedium has been successfully blocked entirely through its 106 minute running time, plus I am plain oblivious to Ki-young's version, so no prejudice by preconceived ideas will hobble my judgment. The karma has its default value from the beginning, which startles its audience with a young girl's suicidal jump, prefigures the ominous fate of our protagonist, whose standpoint has been intentionally set as more of an aroused innocent (suggesting by the tantalizing finger foreplay from the male part and a waiting-naked seduction from the female part) than an adultery victim thanks to a modern metabolism which signifies female is not always the submissive counterpart of the male-dominant society. But the comprehensive tone is much or less conflicts with this setting, with would cause some ambiguous reading of the abruptly dark ending (the final birthday scenery has a moderately sidestepping deviation which cannot gratify an sublimating closing.The film strives to distill the trite storyline (with some patent slips, e.g. the medicine swapping is cursorily done, at least taking away some original potions to keep the amount even) and saves more spatial elasticity to its actors, and the most profitable beneficiaries are Do-yeon and Yeo- jeong, both shoulder the film's strength against banality elsewhere. Do-yeon also outshines in the graphically daring sex scenes with the over-beefy Jung-Jae Lee; while Yeo-jeong is the thunder-stealer here, endowing a supporting role with a show-stopper weightiness. I have quite a few storage of South Korean DVDs (mostly recent ones) which I am pretty eager to watch, THE HOUSEMAID is not in the top-tier, but one thing is certain, I am hunting the original version now.

kluseba This movie is a remake from a film of the same name released back in 1960 but both movies are quite different and don't have the same story line. In the original feature, the housemaid seduces a composer and menaces his family until a bloody ending. In the new version, the sexually predatory femme fatale has become a poor and naive girl that gets seduced by an arrogant, cold and pitiless rich man. When she gets pregnant, the host family wants to get rid of her. But neither several attempts on her life nor money can't convince the young woman that wants to keep her child. She even ignores good advices from several friends and colleagues and decides not to quit the powerful family. When abuse, hatred and pressure reach their highest point, the young woman seeks for justice and has to fight not only a very influent and wealthy family but also her inner demons.The strong points of the movie are definitely the portrait of the clash between rich and poor in modern South Korea and the quite credible acting. I also liked the movie for its artistic approaches. The opening scene shows a scene in the middle of a big city and portrays the everyday life in South Korea before a young and unknown woman commits suicide. Her story remains untold but the idea of showing a lost soul within a big and vivid crowd is an interesting symbol for the main story of this feature. It's the same thing with the final scene of the movie that works like a picture. It portrays a very superficial family portrait where frustration, resignation and sadness is covered by tasty champaign, luxurious decorations and expensive gifts. This last image resumes the entire movie in a short and visual way. It was a good idea to keep those scenes as they add something special to the feature.Even though the acting in this movie is done rather well, I couldn't get any connection to any of the portrayed characters. While this kept me away from entirely enjoying the feature, I now think that this was the intention of the movie maker. Everybody does some big mistakes in this movie and shows his or her negative sides. Of course, some characters are worse than others but in the end they all ran blindly into tragedy.The problem I have with the movie is that there are many lengths. It is all quite slow paced and also very predictable. The movie has some dramatic and melodramatic scenes but it lacks of true suspense. Some critics called this movie a flamingly sexy soap opera but I definitely can't agree on that. I actually think that this film is misunderstood by many Western critics. The sex scenes are cold and at some points even disgusting. I think that the director wanted to show us that even in normally exciting and positive moments, the characters are brutal and emotionless. This fits well to the rest of this coherent and quite detailed movie but none of the characters has any kind of sex appeal.Another point I have mixed feelings about is the main character of the housemaid. Even the actress said in an interview that she still doesn't quite now who she portrayed. This mysterious image is intriguing first but gets quite frustrating in the end. Some actions of the housemaid are not only naive but are simply not logical at all. Especially the final scenes felt like a letdown in my humble opinion. The ending is definitely the only truly surprising element of the movie and gets therefor some credit from me but it somehow feels hardly credible. I would even call the ending unreal and didn't quite enjoy it.In the ending, this movie is hard to sit through. It has many lengths, lacks of true emotions and has a weird disappointing ending. On the other side, it's an interesting portray of modern society in South Korea and convinces with many artistic elements. The movie feels like its characters as it is sophisticated but somewhat lacks of depth. Anybody who's looking for a sexy thriller or a twisted crime flick will be quickly disappointed. This movie is for those who look for an artistic drama only. I recognize the good intentions and efforts made by the makers of this movie but I didn't like it enough to truly recommend it or watch it again in the end.

pulp_post If I could describe Hanyo with just one word, I'd say it is personality. Indeed, both the film and its characters have so much of it that they evolve beyond the viewer's expectations, unfolding themselves at their own pace and rhythm, subtlety telling their story.The settings are amazing, such as the house in which most part of the story takes place. However, there is also where some inevitable frontal collisions with reality occur, since there's not too many people in the world who could afford a house like that, and in case they could, they would not possibly employ just two maids to take care of it. Still, such an unrealistic approach reduces the number of characters in the story and therefore makes the drama even more intense and stronger.The actors are all great, and some of the performances brought to my mind names like Bette Davis, while the overall line of direction seemed close to the very best of Park Chan-wook (that's to say, Oldboy).Hanyo is a poetic, artistic and extremely well written and conceived movie that can boast to be amongst the best films recently made, if not of all times.

DICK STEEL The buzz on this film is ringing out loud. A remake of the original film by Kim Ki-young, widely considered one of the top Korean films of all time, this updated version by Im Sang- soo is a lot more revealing and explicit in nature for the modern audience probably sensitized to it, being one of the films selected for competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and its two limited screenings during our Korean Film Festival were one of the earliest to have sold out. Needless to say it makes good sense for a commercial release here.The premise is simple, where Eun-yi (Jeon Do-yeon) got invited by Byung-sik (Yun Yeo-Jong) to serve in an uber-rich household made up of three members - the master of the house Hoon (Lee Jung-jae), his very pregnant wife Haera (Seo Woo) expecting a pair of twins due anytime soon and hence the need for an extra help around the house, and their daughter Nami (Ahn Seo-hyeon) with whom Eun-yi forms a strong friendship with, since a child is non-judgemental on someone's background and social standing.As much as most would like Eun-yi, a divorcée, to enter the household and see an opportunity to seduce Hoon, this is not that movie, and neither was that the motivation at all. We see the fairly impoverished background that Eun-yi came from, and living amongst the rich and powerful provided a chance to live the high life, since the family is extremely wasteful. With Byung-sik showing her the ropes necessary to do her job, from the bowing to the serving, the cleaning and being at the beck and call of the household members, the hardship probably is well worth it for the perks that come with the job, ones that are beyond the reach of ordinary folks.So when things turn, you'll find yourself wondering the exact motivation she allowed herself to open up (pardon the pun) to the come hither of the master of the house, who has a penchant for alcohol and being brought up with a silver spoon, there's no such thing as a No to any of his request, although on the outside he may be that rich gentleman, it's not far- fetched to think that these folks would consider money as the basis for all things going their way, and money being the basis to bail themselves out of trouble, and to keep the mouth of others shut. Money as the root of all evil, probably couldn't be more true here if those with the means decide to abuse it, given the mindset of theirs that they can always get away from the blame game.But what's more engaging in the film is the power play amongst the characters, who are well, mostly female, fawning over the attention, the riches and the ability of what the man in their life can offer. There's Byung-sik being extremely envious with her protégé she introduced to the household, being the unjaded hard and younger worker who earns the trust of the family, and probably she had wanted to show the young upstart her place in the hierarchy established. And of course the main cusp of the problems Eun-yi will face stem from the child in her, threatening the balance of power especially that of mistresses and maid, with stuff that's what television melodramas get made of. To the audience, we don't feel that Eun- yi is of the scheming type, but to the other women, here's a chance of their objectives being detailed by something most unfortunate, a major threat that can come sooner or later in their lives that they have to act, and stop now.Jeon Do-yeon deserves all the acting accolades she has received thus far for her role, and we feel the pain she has to go through in having traumatic experiences forced upon her just because she's in no position to bargain, until the defining moment in the finale where she gains the upper hand but at what a price at scarring the family for life. I haven't seen Lee Jung-jae in action since Il Mare, and here he does an about turn in a negative role that portrays the caddish behaviour of someone who has it all, while the young Seo Woo portrays the wife that's quite reasonable to begin with, that typical tai-tai but with innocence, until hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.It is the power struggles and the changing of the household dynamics that makes The Housemaid an engaging watch as we witness an internal rot that was waiting to happen. While it may not reach the heights of Kim Ki-young's original, Im Sang-soo's version still keeps things tight and is a wonderful exploration of how perceived threats redefines relationships especially that amongst those with material benefits. Recommended!