Movie Title: 지푸라기라도 잡고 싶은 짐승들 (Beasts Clawing at Straws)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (7/10)
Year: 2018
Beast clawing at straws is a smart movie based on a Japanese novel by Keisuke Sone of the same name, which I particularly love how the director showcase a multi-character and multi-connected plot that revolves around the circle of greed.
The movie tells story of 3 different plots of how desperate they are all in to get fast cash.
1. The life of a sauna worker ♂️, Joong-man (Bae Seong-woo) who is going through a tough time when his wife works as a janitor to help make ends meet after the family went into bankruptcy, his mother (Yun Yuh-jung) who has Alzheimer while his daughter failed to get a student loan.
2. An immigration officer ♂️, Tae-young (Jung Woo-sung) who owes the loan shark Park Doo-man (Jung Man-sik) money when his girlfriend Yeon-hee (Jeon Do-yeon) left him without a trace. In the attempt to repay the Mr. Park, Tae-young tries to earn some money through his illegal connections which failed miserably.
3. Mi-ran (Shin Hyun-been), a prostitute in a “hostess” bar who were scammed and faced with domestic violent from her abusive husband who constantly hit her. Tired of her life, Mi-ran work together with her client Jin-tae (Jung Ga-ram), when he falls in love with her and offers to kill her husband in a drive-by “accident” so she can collect the insurance money.
All this characters and their story were cleverly linked together with greed painted all over their plots and are connected through that same Louis Vuitton bag filled with cash which landed at the start and end of the movie. The solid performance by each and every artist helps elevate the movie one-step higher and when paired with a cleverly connected plots drives audience deeper into the storyline.
A movie worthy to watch as it will get you to think and wonder about the danger and what price to pay for greed. While one can tell the colour of greed is definitely red from this movie, with some humour injected in it despite it being dark and gruesome.