Post by klep on Apr 3, 2017 6:38:13 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 4/3: The Handmaiden
CON ARTIST WEEK
WARNING: THIS WILL BE SPOILERY AS HELL. WATCH THE MOVIE FIRST IF YOU CAN.
The danger in trusting a con artist is that it's hard to know for sure that you're not being conned. This is especially true when you don't know they're a con artist, but even when you do know their profession there's no guarantee they aren't still trying to scam you.
Similarly there's great danger in being a con artist and trusting anyone - even people who aren't con artists. It's tempting to believe that you're the smartest person in the room - the con requires a certain conviction that you'll succeed in the line of bullshit you're selling - and so when a con artist gets tricked or exposed by a mark it can be absolutely devastating.
Of course all this risk and the inherent charisma of the con artist makes for a great story. It's delightful to watch the tricks and turns, and to see everyone get what's coming to them in the end. Sometimes it's the con artist who deserves the short end of the stick, sometimes it's the mark, and if you're really lucky it's quite a bit more complicated than that.
Chan-Wook Park's The Handmaiden is one of those special films. It's a con artist film, it's a romance, it's a melodrama, it's in part a film about women breaking free of patriarchal control of their love lives, and it's very erotic (I assume it also has a lot to say about Korean-Japanese politics but that is not something I am qualified to comment on). The Handmaiden's story has at its core three characters - a gay con woman (Sook-Hee, played by Tae-ri Kim) who wishes to rise up from the muck and match her mother's example (con artistry is a family trade, it seems), an oppressed heiress (Hideko, played by Min-hee Kim) being groomed for marriage by her uncle-in-law (Kouzuki, played by Jin-woong Jo) and forced to read erotic fiction to his buddies, and a con man ("Count Fujiwara", played by Jung-woo Ha) who has his eyes on the heiress' fortune.
The web is tangled indeed, and the film hints at what we're in for from the start. Our introduction makes Sook-Hee look like a poor girl given an opportunity to help her large family by working for a rich woman. Then her true identity as a woman selected to run a con is revealed in the next scene. The film proceeds to pull the rug out from under us several times. First Sook-Hee and Fujiwara are conning Hideko, then Hideko and Fujiwara are conning Sook-Hee, but Fujiwara is conning everybody, so Hideko and Sook-Hee (now in love) con him.
The twists and turns are delightful, and the film is so expertly acted and paced that its nearly 3-hour runtime just flies by. There really isn't an area in which The Handmaiden isn't pulling its all, from the beauty of the costumes, the lush production design, or the grotesque makeup that makes Kouzuki such a contemptible character. For all of the great movies released in 2016, The Handmaiden was cream of the crop, and will be a legendary entry in the canon of great con films.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 4/10: Moonstruck
ROM-COM WEEK
Next week is Rom-Com week, and so we'll be watching a classic romantic comedy. Nothing defines a great romantic comedy like its central pairing, and for our selection we have... Nicholas Cage.... and Cher? Well ok then! Moonstruck is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 4/4: Alien
In 1979 we learned the true meaning of terror with Ridley Scott's Alien. As part of a pairing with the new Life, Wednesday we'll have a thread for this sci-fi horror classic to coincide with the first part of this week's podcast. Alien is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
CON ARTIST WEEK
WARNING: THIS WILL BE SPOILERY AS HELL. WATCH THE MOVIE FIRST IF YOU CAN.
The danger in trusting a con artist is that it's hard to know for sure that you're not being conned. This is especially true when you don't know they're a con artist, but even when you do know their profession there's no guarantee they aren't still trying to scam you.
Similarly there's great danger in being a con artist and trusting anyone - even people who aren't con artists. It's tempting to believe that you're the smartest person in the room - the con requires a certain conviction that you'll succeed in the line of bullshit you're selling - and so when a con artist gets tricked or exposed by a mark it can be absolutely devastating.
Of course all this risk and the inherent charisma of the con artist makes for a great story. It's delightful to watch the tricks and turns, and to see everyone get what's coming to them in the end. Sometimes it's the con artist who deserves the short end of the stick, sometimes it's the mark, and if you're really lucky it's quite a bit more complicated than that.
Chan-Wook Park's The Handmaiden is one of those special films. It's a con artist film, it's a romance, it's a melodrama, it's in part a film about women breaking free of patriarchal control of their love lives, and it's very erotic (I assume it also has a lot to say about Korean-Japanese politics but that is not something I am qualified to comment on). The Handmaiden's story has at its core three characters - a gay con woman (Sook-Hee, played by Tae-ri Kim) who wishes to rise up from the muck and match her mother's example (con artistry is a family trade, it seems), an oppressed heiress (Hideko, played by Min-hee Kim) being groomed for marriage by her uncle-in-law (Kouzuki, played by Jin-woong Jo) and forced to read erotic fiction to his buddies, and a con man ("Count Fujiwara", played by Jung-woo Ha) who has his eyes on the heiress' fortune.
The web is tangled indeed, and the film hints at what we're in for from the start. Our introduction makes Sook-Hee look like a poor girl given an opportunity to help her large family by working for a rich woman. Then her true identity as a woman selected to run a con is revealed in the next scene. The film proceeds to pull the rug out from under us several times. First Sook-Hee and Fujiwara are conning Hideko, then Hideko and Fujiwara are conning Sook-Hee, but Fujiwara is conning everybody, so Hideko and Sook-Hee (now in love) con him.
The twists and turns are delightful, and the film is so expertly acted and paced that its nearly 3-hour runtime just flies by. There really isn't an area in which The Handmaiden isn't pulling its all, from the beauty of the costumes, the lush production design, or the grotesque makeup that makes Kouzuki such a contemptible character. For all of the great movies released in 2016, The Handmaiden was cream of the crop, and will be a legendary entry in the canon of great con films.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 4/10: Moonstruck
ROM-COM WEEK
Next week is Rom-Com week, and so we'll be watching a classic romantic comedy. Nothing defines a great romantic comedy like its central pairing, and for our selection we have... Nicholas Cage.... and Cher? Well ok then! Moonstruck is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 4/4: Alien
In 1979 we learned the true meaning of terror with Ridley Scott's Alien. As part of a pairing with the new Life, Wednesday we'll have a thread for this sci-fi horror classic to coincide with the first part of this week's podcast. Alien is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.