Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)
"Flandersui gae" (original title)

An idle part-time college lecturer is annoyed by the yapping sound of a nearby dog. He decides to take drastic action.

Director:

Joon-ho Bong

Writers:

Joon-ho Bong, Ji-ho Song,

Stars:

Sung-jae Lee, Doona Bae, Hie-bong Byeon

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Sung-jae Lee	...	Yun-ju
Doona Bae	...	Hyeon-nam
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hie-bong Byeon	...	Janitor
Su-hee Go	...	Jang-Mi
Ho-jung Kim	...	Eun-Sil Bae
Roe-ha Kim
Jeong-seon Seong

Storyline

The disconnections of urban life. Yun-ju is diffident, almost without affect; his wife is pregnant, and he's wonders if he should bribe the dean to secure a professorship. He's also bothered by a yapping dog that disturbs him in the large block of flats where he lives. Hyeon-nam is equally disengaged; she's a bookkeeper at same block of flats, animated only when she learns of a lost dog. Over the course of a few weeks, three dogs in the building go missing - Yun-ju and Hyeon-nam have a connection to each. So might a janitor. Is it a man-eat-dog world? Is there any cure for this ennui? Can anyone connect?

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Plot Keywords:

dog | yapping dog | janitor | lost dog | bribe | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

19 February 2000 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Barking Dogs Never Bite

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinema Service, Uno Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally the role of Yun-ju was designed for another actor who Joon-ho Bong was drawn to while working on the film Motel Seoninjang. But when it came to shooting the film, the actor who Bong referred to as "P", disappeared completely and he ended up casting Sung-jae Lee in the role.

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Connections

Features Christmas in August (1998)

User Reviews

Funny Black Comedy But Some Queasy Bits About Dog Cruelty

This is the first full length Korean movie I have seen. My wife has recently been bitten by the Korean telenovela craze and I would often see her watching "Boys Over Flowers," "Only You" or currently "East of Eden". But I did not really care too much to spend time on these shows. However, when I learned that there will be a Korean Film Festival at the Shangri-La Mall this week, I decided this would be the ideal way to introduce myself to that country's films.

The movie I caught is had the curious title of "Barking Dogs Don't Bite." The action already begins even before the opening titles. A hen-pecked out-of-work Humanities professor-wannabe who was so annoyed with a very noisy dog of a neighbor. He got so fed up that one day, he decided to get rid of it. From there, this funny black comedy of errors unfolds. Somewhere along the way, his path intersects with that of a bored but kind-hearted bookkeeper who witnessed his crime.

There was a lot of light humor regarding the pathetic life situation of the male and female lead characters. There was a joke about a survey about ideal husbands where Humanities grad students ranked 50, even below masons. There was scene where the exasperated husband ingeniously uses toilet paper to settle a bet with his overbearing wife. There was also several scenes showing the interaction of the bookkeeper and her chubby best friend which were quite hilarious.

There was however a lot of dark humor as this movie dealt a good deal about killing dogs! There were scenes which were definitely uncomfortable to watch as dogs were seen being maltreated. I'm sure the Western audience would protest about scenes where the dogs were seen being prepared to be cooked! If you are a staunch dog-lover, then this movie is not for you. I do hope that among the Korean words in the closing there is a statement that says that no dogs were harmed in the filming of this motion picture.