아가씨
Country of Origin: South Korea
Primary Audio Language: Korean and Japanese
Director: Park Chan-Wook
Film Length: 2 hr 25m
Synopsis: A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
Star Rating: ★★★★★
Review: An gloriously disturbing film about the manipulation and oppression of women in a strong male dominated culture during the Korean occupation of Japan that is sure to keep your intrigued throughout the entire 2+ hours.
Given how much I enjoyed Train to Busan (2016) last week, I was eager to see what other "dark" Korean films I could find for this project, and was excited when Amazon happened to recommend this particular film to me while I was doing some virtual window shopping a few nights ago. To try to remain as impartial as possible, I decided to forego my usual research beforehand and put it on to watch on after having only seen the short trailer above- but it was well worth the gamble.
While I was expecting more of a horror-vibe, what this movie offers ended up being even better- it honestly left my reeling for hours after watching and it is definitely being added both to my recommend/force my friends to watch and 'watch again myself' lists. I have deep appreciation for how this film tackles female oppression and portrays the escape from that through the exploration of female sexuality and freedom in a high psychology thriller kind of way. The relationship between the two female leads especially left me pleasantly surprised, as I typically actively seek out LGBTQ+ content films, and this one just happened to come to me.
I don't want to go too much more in-depth on anything to avoid giving away any of the twists, but it is important to note that there are some... more than gratuitous erotic scenes. This was another aspect of the film I didn't expect and was personally not prepared for at all, but after adjusting to it, it wasn't anything too crazy, although maybe a little intense at times. Anyone with a certain aversion to this type of content probably will not enjoy this movie, however, and I recommend that nobody watch it with their parents.
Available on: Amazon Prime
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