Without a doubt another brilliant piece of work with stunning cinematography was delivered by Park.
However, the storyline was so outdated. it gave you the impression that you had already watched the film.
I mean Wild Things (1998). Any one? The girl on girl action and the multiple plot twists.
LET ME BE THE ONE THAT SHINES WITH U-OASIS
It's adapted from fingersmith wish came out in 2002 and the story there has even third twist of switch at birth.
shareOk,thats good to know but any films that come with a third plot twist are simply saying "we dont know how to end it so we throw yet another twist".
LET ME BE THE ONE THAT SHINES WITH U-OASIS
Why do people confuse the director with the cinematographer all the time? Park wasn't the cinematography. There have been many "girl on girl" films and novels along with plot twists and etc. for a while.
sharestories are constantly being regurgitated. its how you deliver that makes the difference. and the film-literate consensus would be that park is a master of his craft. i would rate wild things 2 out of 10. handmaiden is a 9 out of 10.
share9/10 is a little high imo. Solid film, but definitely not a 9/10 or a 94% the way Rotten Tomatoes has it. Felt the story telling was a little choppy, especially Part 1. Some scenes were definitely unnecessary.
sharei felt that the story was quite strong. I like how the story told itself bit by bit over the 3 parts, uncovering a layer and a twist in each part. Fascinating story; would have worked just as well without the sex scenes. That is not to say that the sex scenes detracted from the film, but the story itself would have been just as solid without them.
the film, for some reason, reminded me of "dangerous liaisons", mixed in with some "50 shades of grey", and "blue is the warmest color"
I knew the difference. I was just saying Park's films always come with that kind of strong cinematography. Saw that in Old Boy and Stoker so was the Handmaiden. It's good that you had encountered many girl on girl films with plot twists lol I didnt thus it only reminds me of Wild Things.
I agreed with you that this film is at best a solid 8/10, no way its a 9 or some. I can sort of explain the high score on rotten tomato: people appreciate the mysterious oriental taste from the far east.
LET ME BE THE ONE THAT SHINES WITH U-OASIS
Here's the thing, I'm "Asian" (Filipino) and have seen hundreds+ of Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, etc. films and whenever an Asian director who's had the luck to being able to get their films shown here in the states, I hate to use the word, but white critics just oooze all over it as if it's something new. Park Chan-wook is a great director, he's got a solid filmography. But to me, The Handmaiden wasn't one of his best. It's good - so all of these high scores and praise sometimes befuddles me. Stoker too was just meh.
shareHere's the thing, I'm "Asian" (Filipino) and have seen hundreds+ of Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, etc. films and whenever an Asian director who's had the luck to being able to get their films shown here in the states, I hate to use the word, but white critics just oooze all over it as if it's something new. Park Chan-wook is a great director, he's got a solid filmography. But to me, The Handmaiden wasn't one of his best. It's good - so all of these high scores and praise sometimes befuddles me. Stoker too was just meh.
yeah but compare the quality of this film to 95% of the *beep* Hollywood produces. 9/10 because everything else this summer besides the lobster and a few others were 3/10 or lower.
shareAnd have you seen the other 95% of Korean cinema? Because it's the same thing. Garbage and you have your few bright spots here and there. The Handmaiden is a solid film but it's not the end-all-be-all or anywhere near it.
shareEven if all the critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 7/10, it would still equate to a 100% on RT. It's an aggregated score.
What you can take away from it, is that only a handful of critics thought it was a bad movie. You need to look at the average score out of 10 to get a more accurate assessment of the quality. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find it on the Mobile version of RT. It definitely exists on the Desktop version.
It's got an 8.2 average score on RT and 84 on metacritic, which equals "universal critical acclaim." So yeah, this is getting excellent reviews.
Raging Bull = Best movie
I picked up a hint of "Eyes Wide Shut".
shareI immediately thought of Wild Things and Blue Is The Warmest Color (for obvious reasons) with a slight resemblance to Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, but I really enjoyed it. The only thing that bothered me were the numerous little twists towards the end.
shareFirst thing to cross my mind after the first twist?
Korean Gone Girl
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law!
Someone else already mentioned is based on a 2002 novel by Welsh author Sarah Waters, The Fingersmith, adapted for the TV screen in 2005: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423651/
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