The Handmaiden

The Handmaiden is based on the novel "Fingersmith" by Sarah Waters The novel is set in London during the 19th century, but the film is set in Korea in the 1930s, under Japanese colonial rule. The pickpocket Sook-Hee (Tae-ri Kim) is hired by the Japanese heiress Lady Hideko to be her personal servant. Hideko is supported by her Uncle Kouzuki and the gold-digger "Count Fujiwara", who is indeed son of peasants, wants to marry her to steal her inheritance. Sook-Hee is a small-time thief of the ring of the conman "Count Fujiwara" and is sent to help him in the confidence game. But soon Hideko and Sook-Hee get close to each other and become lovers.

 I saw this movie while knowing very little about it, all I knew is that there is a conspiracy against the heiress and the girl who is pretending to be her maid falls in love with her. The twist before part 2 (the film is divided into 3 parts) really took me off guard which is very rare, but I knew the movie was fantastic long before then.

Stoker

Unusual. That is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about Stoker. The film is unlike anything I've seen recently - the director Chan-wook Park has very unusual, vivid style and his movies always feel like stepping in a very weird and creepy dream. Stoker is his English language debut and the film blends between usual Park's style and this new component which is the story that is much more approachable than any other told in Park's movies yet at the same time it's very hard to understand what drives the characters and guess what lies ahead.

Thirst (Bakjwi)

(133 min, 2009)
Director: Chan-wook Park
Writers: Chan-wook Park (screenplay), Émile Zola (inspired by the book "Thérèse Raquin"),
Stars: Kang-ho Song, Ok-bin Kim and Hae-sook Kim

Between God and desire.

“She took my heart, I think she took my soul
With the moon I run
Far from the carnage of the fiery sun
Driven by the strangled vein
Showing no mercy I do it again
Open up your eye
You keep on crying, baby
I’ll bleed you dry”
- Kings of Leon, “Closer”

In Korea, the dedicated Priest Hyo-Sung volunteers to work in a special research of the Emmanuel Virus, a.k.a. Curse of Bazira that does not affect African, only Caucasian and Asian; However he contracts the disease and dies, but after a blood transfusion, he surprisingly survives among the fifty volunteers and is considered saint by the worshipers. Sooner Hyo-Sung finds that the transfusion was made using vampires blood and he is thirsty for blood and lust for woman, Tae-ju.

If I had to make a list of five best vampires movies ever made “Thirst” by the director of Vengeance Trilogy Chan-wook Park would be on it. The movie brilliantly shows vampire's lust, in all forms of it, has one of the best characters I've seen in vampire movie (Tae-ju) and is beautifully shot. It's a delicate and sometimes even poetic movie about brutal and irreversible aspects of vampires' lives.