The Taste of Money

From Korea. Sang-soo Im's brilliant film is about corruption in high places, concentrating on one family and the young gofer who works for them. It looks like a cross between a Scorsese picture and one of Douglas Sirk's '50's melodramas but with more sex and what they get up to makes the Ewings seem like pussycats. It's certainly further proof that Sang-soo Im is a great visual stylist and a master of the widescreen and it's brilliantly acted down to the smallest part. Not as well known as "The Housemaid" but unmissable nevertheless.

This family keeps a roomful of cash stacked eight feet high and the son picks up a $600bn company for $6m but there's always someone richer and they live in fear of being arrested by the bribed authorities or hauled off by their super-rich enemies. Factotum Mr. Joo (Kang-woo Kim, who has a great six-pack) becomes disgusted with his bosses after the lady-boss (Yun-shik Baek?) takes him to bed and, ageing legs in air, orders him to push it in deep, deeper, harder. This becomes a problem with her gorgeous divorced daughter (Hyo-jin Kim) who fancies the pants off Mr. Joo and finally gets him in the end, in the toilet of an international flight. (She pulls her dropped panties back up and says 'Slip it in the side'.) This is a spirited tale of the very rich, and franker than any movie you'll see from the Hollywood dream-machine. We loved it from beginning to end, but apparently it's an acquired taste, to judge by IMDb.

It's a good idea to interpret the magic of money from a specific angle, but it's not very good from the angle of eroticism. Many characters can not see the specific relationship with the main line, such as the old president and his next daughter, Robert, seems to be rigidly embedded in the plot, rather than from the story itself. Eve's opening eyes at the end was a failure, a good realistic thriller. How to say money? People who do not really understand it can't describe its magic and greatness. So the film scratches its head and tail from boots to boots.

The movie will not be to everyones taste of course. But it has some merits. While its hard to root for any of the characters, the story itself is intriguing. What was surprising to a point, is how sexual the movie was. Not explicit, but still the characters are aware of their sexuality. Of course with money comes not only responsibility, but in this case a lot of power.

While simple it might effect you with its High and Low points. Acting is pretty solid and the movie does have a few (if little) Action scenes. It's more about the Drama and thrill of what is happening. There are far better Korean movies out there of course, but that doesn't mean, that this is a bad one. It's just not as good as others

Disappointing.

A sequel, of sorts, to The Housemaid though it is not at all necessary to have watched the Housemaid before seeing The Taste of Money.

Like The Housemaid, the movie has heaps of potential. Family intrigues, corporate corruption, general seediness. The introduction of a new character, Joo Young-Yak, allows for a fresh view on the evil family we met in The Housemaid. Also allows the movie to be watched in isolation.

With this setup, you think that the story should be quite interesting, and initially it is.

However after the good foundation, the movie proceeds to go nowhere. While the family intrigues continue, they don't all make sense. Things just feel contrived.

Ending does nothing to try to tie everything together and is quite pointless.

Performances are decent.