Hey folks, Harry here... If you attended FANTASTIC FEST last year, you had the opportunity to see, not only this remarkable film, but the vintage original Korean film of the same name, that this is a remake of. I'm talking about THE HOUSEMAID.
This is, a very disturbing film, and I've decided, that since we're talking about a horribly disturbing plot... one that is not beyond the realm of reality, but horrifying still. Perhaps moreso, that I'd discuss what it is that I love about extreme and disturbing cinema.
When I put THE SERBIAN FILM on my top ten, it wasn't to say, this is cool, groovy and badass. It's a horrifyingly disturbing film. And THE HOUSEMAID, to me, is horrifying too. I'm an emphatic film viewer, I allow myself to imagine the situations I'm seeing as though they are occurring to me. This is not always a positive thing to do, but it allows me to connect with the characters, in a manner that makes me imagine the worst this life could possibly offer, and I come out of it... perhaps a bit psychically scarred, but I come out feeling very good about my... rather ordinary by comparison life.
THE HOUSEMAID, the film that this is a trailer for is about a woman of low standing in her culture. Servant class. She's not that bright, but when a man in the position of her employer makes advances, it feels like a dream. To be touched by a man of class, who can play beautiful music. That has a beautiful wife and a beautiful daughter that adores her. Well, it gives her pleasure. But then, when she gets pregnant... the story turns and it becomes very very dark, and not at all in the manner of Glenn Close and boiled rabbits. No, you know how disturbed Korean cinema can get - and this film just dives deeper and deeper into a realm that borders on and perhaps past madness.
Yoko, who is Korean (half) watched both this and the original which I missed. But this film is tremendous. We talked for hours about how the relationship between the wife & the wife's mother was exceptionally Korean - and how realistic the story played to the sensibilities she's familiar with.
These are films I watch to understand the darkness of the human soul. In film, you have the capacity to go along on extremely painful journeys... not because of how awesome or cool they are, often times, they're the exact opposite of that. Sometimes cinema can leave marks you didn't know it could leave. Does it desensitize me from reality?
Absolutely not, it makes me empathize with it. It gives me a feeling of relief to have survived even the visualization of it. It shows me the ugly of this world, and I come away being... not afraid, but sobered.
Now... A warning - this is a trailer with spoilers, more than I've discussed...
Here's the trailer to a brilliant Korean film, THE HOUSEMAID
