A spoiled teen and his mentally unbalanced friends get involved in a kidnapping that goes very wrong. A mildly amusing film that uses sick humor to good effect. Starts off at a much faster pace than it ends. Sort of a Korean version of FARGO. Worth a look for fans of SHALLOW GRAVE also.
3 Reviews
Strange mix of drama, thriller and comedy...
dwpollar8 September 2002
1st watched 9/8/2002 - 6 out of 10(Dir:Mu-yeong Lee); Strange mix of drama, thriller and comedy in this `outrageously' complex film about the lives of three friends who grow up forming a small gang with each member having obvious roles starting from a very early age. This is a disturbing film in the sense that it is so extreme in it's use of violence, profanity, and sex and yet it is definetly meant to be a comedy(at times). The movie blossoms from the leader of the threesome being interrogated by police and the movie basically unfolds based on his testimony. The major plotline(explained in synopsis of film-attempted kidnapping of the father of the leader) doesn't actually begin till about the last 45 minutes of the movie, which leads to an ending that twists and turns beyond belief. My recommendation for this film is based on the fact that I'd like to view it again to understand more of the underlying purpose of the direction which seems to be displaying a consistent lack of humanity despite titleing the film the `Humanist.'
Crazy Korean crime caper.
BA_Harrison15 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Ma Te-o, the spoiled son of a rich businessman accidentally kills a policeman and is then blackmailed by the dead copper's corrupt partner. In order to pay the blackmailer, Ma Te-o, along with his two friends Euglena and Amoeba, plans to kidnap his father and hold him for ransom. Problems arise, however, when the wrong man is accidentally kidnapped and the abduction is witnessed by a pretty nun.
The Humanist, directed by Mu-yeong Lee (who co-wrote Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Joint Security Area), is a strange beast, mixing weird humour, drama and violence (along with a great soundtrack) to tell its rather pedestrian story; the result is an uneven but certainly bizarre piece of cinema.
To illustrate my point, here are some of the occurrences that take place: a man drinks water through which faeces have been strained, in order to get rid of bruises; a tramp has his mouldy, maggot infested leg hacked off with an axe; a stupid guy repeatedly attempts to rape the nun; and a man paints a whore and has her hop in and out of a wardrobe whilst he jerks off.
And for good measure Mu-yeong Lee adds some impressive gore to these offbeat scenes: the aforementioned tramp being parted from his leg is rather juicy, the policeman is thrown headfirst into a skip, a couple of characters are repeatedly beaten with a shovel, a man has his eye shot out, and, in a particularly nasty moment, Ma Te-o is blinded with an artist's spatula, both eyeballs slit open in graphic detail!
The story, stripped of its outlandishness, is mediocre and the off-beat elements feel rather disparate, failing to gel with the core plot. Unfortunately, despite the oddball characters, unusual goings-on, and general viciousness, the film still failed to impress me as much as I had hoped it would.
The Humanist, directed by Mu-yeong Lee (who co-wrote Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Joint Security Area), is a strange beast, mixing weird humour, drama and violence (along with a great soundtrack) to tell its rather pedestrian story; the result is an uneven but certainly bizarre piece of cinema.
To illustrate my point, here are some of the occurrences that take place: a man drinks water through which faeces have been strained, in order to get rid of bruises; a tramp has his mouldy, maggot infested leg hacked off with an axe; a stupid guy repeatedly attempts to rape the nun; and a man paints a whore and has her hop in and out of a wardrobe whilst he jerks off.
And for good measure Mu-yeong Lee adds some impressive gore to these offbeat scenes: the aforementioned tramp being parted from his leg is rather juicy, the policeman is thrown headfirst into a skip, a couple of characters are repeatedly beaten with a shovel, a man has his eye shot out, and, in a particularly nasty moment, Ma Te-o is blinded with an artist's spatula, both eyeballs slit open in graphic detail!
The story, stripped of its outlandishness, is mediocre and the off-beat elements feel rather disparate, failing to gel with the core plot. Unfortunately, despite the oddball characters, unusual goings-on, and general viciousness, the film still failed to impress me as much as I had hoped it would.
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