Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Handmaiden/아가씨 (Agassi) (2016) - Get older slowly with Chan-wook's overrated softcore art cinema

4/29/2023

The Handmaiden/아가씨 (Agassi) (2016) - Get older slowly with Chan-wook's overrated softcore art cinema

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A mix of alliances and power lines criss-cross on this poster for Park Chan-wook's The Handmaiden

A new handmaiden with an innocent face gets hired by an aristocratic woman in Japanese colonized Korea, but behind her face lies a deceitful mission. Nevertheless the desires of the two get in the way.

The Handmaiden is written by Chung Seo-kyung (Lady Vengeance/Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005)) and co-writer/co-producer/director Park Chan-wook (Daleun... haega kkuneun kkum (1992)). It is a loose adaptation of Fingersmith (2002) by Sarah Waters (Tipping the Velvet (1998). The original Korean title translates to 'the lady'.

Again I fail to connect with a work of Chan-wook's, whom I seem to just not understand or whom I perhaps just don't share sensibilities with. The Handmaiden strikes me as a luxuriously produced and high-brow round of respectable soft-core lesbian art cinema porn. It is filled with mouth-smacking sounds and dialog about vulvas, - it is obsessed with the female genitals and BDSM, - and it bores me to death. It is unbearably neatly made, with 'advanced' twists galore, which bespectacled cinephile audiences gorge on and celebrate as modern cinema art (but is more accurately described as modern 'naughty' exoticism.) The knotty plot here rolls out of my disinterested hands.

The film is undeniably artistically photographed (by Chung-hoon Chung (Last Night in Soho (2021))) but the point gets lost in the unknown. And The Handmaiden is also way, way overlong.

Park Chan-wook: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Stoker (2013) - Chan-wook Park's over-styled American debut revolts and bores in turns

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Oldboy/올드보이 (Oldeuboi)(2003) or, Nuts in South Korea

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly approximately 8.8 mil. $

Box office: 38.5 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.37 times its cost)

[The Handmaiden premiered 14 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 144 minutes. Shooting took place from June - October 2015 in South Korea and Japan. The film opened #39 to a 92k $ first weekend in 5 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #21 and in 123 theaters (different weekends), grossing 2 mil. $ (5.2 %). The film's biggest market was South Korea with 32.9 mil. $ (85.5 %). North America was the 2nd biggest, and France was the 3rd biggest with 1.9 mil. $ (4.9 %). The film won the Palme d'Or in Cannes, a BAFTA, a National Board of Review award, among tons of other honors. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #239 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Rebecca (1940) and Cool Hand Luke (1967). Chan-wook returned with The Little Drummer Girl (2018, miniseries), Life Is But A Dream (2022, short) and theatrically with Decision to Leave/Heojil kyolshim (2022). The Handmaiden is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Handmaiden?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (6-24)

4/29/2023

The Handmaiden/아가씨 (Agassi) (2016) - Get older slowly with Chan-wook's overrated softcore art cinema

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Oldboy/올드보이 (Oldeuboi)(2003) or, Nuts in South Korea

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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)

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