Now that Parasite is nominated for best picture, please don't sleep on another Korean heist film The Handmaiden (2016)

I loved Parasite like mostly everyone who saw it. But I was more surprised by the fact that this movie caught on with American audiences, while many other amazing Korean films have not. Most notably, my personal favorite, The Handmaiden (2016) directed by Chan-wook Park who is probably best known for directing Old Boy (2003).

The less you know going in to the Handmaiden, the better (kind of like Parasite and other heist movies). The film is full of twists and turns that are hard to see coming, but are utterly satisfying. It is definitely more sexual in nature than Parasite, but it has a very similar tone (dark humor full of manipulation and beguiling).

It is also absolutely beautifully shot. It has the feeling of an epic and a period piece, taking place in 1930s Korea. For those of you who have seen Old Boy (the original Korean version, not the American remake), the Handmaiden is far less gritty visually, but equally as dark and twisted.

It also has probably the most unique use of language in a film (Japanese and Korean) of all time.

Surprisingly, not only was this film not nominated for Best Picture, it wasn't even nominated for Best Foreign Film. I think it is among the biggest snubs in oscars history. EDIT: Thanks to indig0sixalpha for informing me that S. Korea chose another film to submit for Best Foreign Language film in 2016. So The Handmaiden wasn't snubbed by the Academy, it was just not up for consideration, which brings up questions about the rules for submitting to that category.

Did you see it? What do you think?

EDIT 2: For those who haven't seen it, it is streaming for free on Amazon (included if you have prime)

Submitted January 15, 2020 at 12:00AM by isthishandletaken https://ift.tt/30vdF7j