Review of The Handmaiden (2016) by Brandon W — 19 Jul 2017

The Handmaiden is directed and co-written by Park Chan-wook, and it stars Kim Min-hee, Kim Tae-ri, Ha Jung-woo, and Cho Jin-Woong in a South Korean psychological thriller about a maiden that works with a heiress, and when they start hanging out more and having good times, they start to have something together that they didn't expect when they start having a crush on each other.

I come in to this with little to no knowledge of the film, only for the fact that it's directed by the same guy who did Oldboy and Stoker, which the trailer didn't seem to give out much information either, and I'm glad for that.

When I saw it in Family Video, I was excited for it, and of course watched it after I was done with the films that were due the next day after, which when I finished it, The Handmaiden is a flat out masterpiece of cinema.

The acting is fantastic as you can tell from their emotions that they are being genuine with the situations that they're in. The characters are very memorable as you get a story from all of the main characters, and you get to know a lot about them that you understand their perspective whenever they make a decision that's really big.

The writing by Park Chan-Wook and Chung Seo-kyung is well-written and tight that it never felt boring for a 145 minute film that never had a scene that was unnecessary to be in. The cinematography is gorgeous to look at, especially when the scenery is there, and when I thought that the film was going in this direction, it went in a totally different route that caught me off guard, and when that happened the first time, that's when I realize the movie is going to be something special.

It also has a sick sense of humor that's really funny, and it's enough of that that keeps me invested in the story. Of course, I'm gonna have to talk about the graphic part which I know that people have talked about for this movie.

There are at least 3 graphic scenes that involve lesbian action, and it doesn't go as long as Blue is the Warmest Color, which all I got to say for it, is that those scenes were done very well that doesn't look like I was looking at ugly action, or that the actress were looking uncomfortable throughout the scenes.

The Handmaiden is a fantastic movie that even at 10 movies in, Park Chan-wook is still making strong films.