So intricately woven are the layers of deception in The Handmaiden, the cons that masquerade as plot become part of its very structure, staging a seductive dance between cunning swindlers and discerning victims that Park Chan-wook choreographs with masterful precision.
Bong Joon-ho’s faceless serial killer may represent some abstract embodiment of moral corruption, but this violent perversion is clearly rampant in Memories of Murder, stranding us with a pair of under-resourced detectives navigating landscapes of mud, rain, and bureaucratic failure.
Never has Park Chan-wook wielded his fatalistic irony with such a darkly comedic edge as he does in No Other Choice, sending one unemployed paper specialist on a murderous trail against rival job candidates, and sharply exposing the bureaucratic nihilism of modern capitalism.
