Beasts Clawing at Straws review – jet-black comedy in arch Korean thriller
When Korean director Bong Joon-ho won the best picture Oscar in 2020 for his near-universally acclaimed Parasite, he suggested that maybe now is the time for Anglophone viewers to get over the “one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles” and discover the world of pleasure awaiting them. Although there’s a bottomless back catalogue of great Korean films out there to catch up with, those who have embraced the challenge of leaping that tiny barrier might enjoy this new, jetblack comedy by Bong’s fellow countryman Kim Yong-hoon, who is making his directorial debut. Based on a Japanese novel by Keisuke Sone, this is an arch, multi-strand, multi-character three-ring circus, revolving around a Louis Vuitton overnight bag full of cash that long-suffering sauna worker Joongman (Bae Seong-woo) finds in an abandoned locker at work.
While Joong-man sees in the bag a chance to escape his drudgeryfilled life, dealing with his overbearing mother and pissed-off wife, another set of characters are no less invested in acquiring this untraceable fortune. Sleazy customs official (Jung Woo-sung) is in hock to gangsters for a debt incurred by his missing wife, while fed-up-andready-for-revenge escort (Shin Hyunbin) is regularly beaten by her vile husband and sees in a besotted client the chance to pull off a Double Indemnity-style con. And then there’s the escort’s imperious boss Yeon-hee (Jeon Do-yeon, a goddess in lipstick and a dab hand with a broken bottle), who knows what it’s like to be hurt by men.
Some of the plot’s manoeuvres are perhaps not as clever as the filmmakers seem to think they are, with a temporal two-step shuffle straight out of Pulp Fiction (and scores of other thrillers). But the performances are rich and perfectly pitched, from the leads right down to the comicrelief minor characters, such as Park Jihwan’s lowlife sidekick and Youn Yuhjung – who won an Oscar this year for Minari – as Joong-man’s infinitely annoying mother. The intense colour palette blends neon signs and green-lit interiors with the vast amounts of scarlet blood that flows as a consequence of the frequent violence.
• Beasts Clawing at Straws is released on 13 August on Curzon Home Cinema.