Review of The Handmaiden (2016) by Prach P — 14 Aug 2016

I've just finished watching The Handmaiden. Since I don't think this film has anything good to spoil, let me just tell you right away that it's a fantasy about a group of Korean and Japanese people plotting plans (and anti-plans, and anti-anti-plans) to rob and lock each other up in mental institutions, with many pointless stupid twists.

Like Oldboy by the same director, The Handmaiden is cheap grotesque porn sold as black comedy. It tries very hard to be Tarantino-esque - that is, stark, violent, yet stylish. But it lacks all the stylishness. It tries to shock the audience, but it does so without making a point, as if shock is valuable in itself.

The movie lacks any content that could remotely be called intelligent. It makes a few jokes, some perhaps satirising the Japanese, but all are superficial.

None of the characters has any depth whatsoever. They are crazy aliens with completely incomprehensible motivations, shot into the movie from Lalaland. And despite the director's effort in dressing them up in exquisite costumes and equipping them with raw ruthlessness, he fails entirely to make them look charming or cool.

When I watched Oldboy, I wondered whether the director intentionally made the movie so tasteless to make it cool - cool in a raw kind of way perhaps. But after seeing this, I'm convinced that the director is actually tasteless, and that his movies simply reflect it.

In short, don't waste your 2.5 hours on this cheap porn. It is void of any artistic or intellectual value.

1/5 star.