"The Villainess" is an ambitious film, gathering influences from several established genres and styles including Scorsese-like gangster, Fast and Furious style car chases, classic femme fatale, Takashi Miike-style hack and slash, and revenge thriller. Director Jung Byung-gil wraps all of these into a tightly-knit ball, signs it with his own name, and delightfully throws it at the audience. It explodes with confetti and blood, and everybody cheers.
Sook-hee (Kim Ok-bin) is a professional assassin, trained from a young age, who has spent her life tracking down her father's killer. After a rampage, she is captured by South Korean intelligence, who recruits her as an asset. From there, the tension increases, and the mystery becomes more and more complex.
The cinematography is astounding and uses frequent color contrasts, quick panning, and three staggering long cuts (one of which is the opening scene, which digs its claws into the audience, demanding their attention for the rest of the film). These long cuts are shot in a way that is reminiscent of an action video game, kind of like a supercharged version of Gus Van Sant's direction in his "Death Trilogy." Each of them showcase the protagonist's rage, and the incredible direction of the sequences shows valuable insight into her mind.
The story is also very engrossing, and keeps the attention of the audience for its 120+ minute runtime. The film relies heavily on flashbacks of Sook-hee's life, and these flashbacks are blended into present-day in a way that resembles transient thought -- as if one is thinking about the past while living in the present. For example, most flashbacks occur suddenly and without warning, often within the same cut while using a great visual transition. The editing in these sequences is superb.
While Act 1 of the film is nearly perfect, Act 2 is a marked departure from the action-packed sequences of the first part of the film. Impressively, the cinematography changes to mostly classical Hollywood style with medium close-ups and simple art direction / mis-en-scene. It matches nicely with the tone of the second act, and Jung (the director) really knows what he's doing. The flashbacks continue, but unfortunately are far less clear in Act 2 -- they are still presented in the same "transient" format, but their content is much more important to the plot. While it sounds like a good idea to keep up consistency, the developments in Sook-hee's history become muddled and difficult to understand. I feel like the flashbacks in Act 2 should have been compiled together and left as one long sequence; it may have even fit nicely with the "calmer" atmosphere of Act 2.
Act 3 heavily draws on the themes introduced in Act 2's flashbacks, and therefore the comprehension of the film begins to slowly bleed out. While the resolution of the film is clear, it is difficult to fully appreciate it because of what went wrong in Act 2. The director clearly knows how to craft a film, but I feel like his choices in depicting flashbacks may have been a mistake in some parts of the film.
I think that the film deserves a second watch -- after knowing the resolution and ending, Act 2's flashbacks may become more clear. But for a first-time viewer, be aware that you may have to pay really close attention once the film "calms down" a bit.
Despite all that, "The Villainess" is an excellent and rare thriller that should've received a much wider release. Overall, I loved it, and can't wait to see it again.
Sook-hee (Kim Ok-bin) is a professional assassin, trained from a young age, who has spent her life tracking down her father's killer. After a rampage, she is captured by South Korean intelligence, who recruits her as an asset. From there, the tension increases, and the mystery becomes more and more complex.
The cinematography is astounding and uses frequent color contrasts, quick panning, and three staggering long cuts (one of which is the opening scene, which digs its claws into the audience, demanding their attention for the rest of the film). These long cuts are shot in a way that is reminiscent of an action video game, kind of like a supercharged version of Gus Van Sant's direction in his "Death Trilogy." Each of them showcase the protagonist's rage, and the incredible direction of the sequences shows valuable insight into her mind.
The story is also very engrossing, and keeps the attention of the audience for its 120+ minute runtime. The film relies heavily on flashbacks of Sook-hee's life, and these flashbacks are blended into present-day in a way that resembles transient thought -- as if one is thinking about the past while living in the present. For example, most flashbacks occur suddenly and without warning, often within the same cut while using a great visual transition. The editing in these sequences is superb.
While Act 1 of the film is nearly perfect, Act 2 is a marked departure from the action-packed sequences of the first part of the film. Impressively, the cinematography changes to mostly classical Hollywood style with medium close-ups and simple art direction / mis-en-scene. It matches nicely with the tone of the second act, and Jung (the director) really knows what he's doing. The flashbacks continue, but unfortunately are far less clear in Act 2 -- they are still presented in the same "transient" format, but their content is much more important to the plot. While it sounds like a good idea to keep up consistency, the developments in Sook-hee's history become muddled and difficult to understand. I feel like the flashbacks in Act 2 should have been compiled together and left as one long sequence; it may have even fit nicely with the "calmer" atmosphere of Act 2.
Act 3 heavily draws on the themes introduced in Act 2's flashbacks, and therefore the comprehension of the film begins to slowly bleed out. While the resolution of the film is clear, it is difficult to fully appreciate it because of what went wrong in Act 2. The director clearly knows how to craft a film, but I feel like his choices in depicting flashbacks may have been a mistake in some parts of the film.
I think that the film deserves a second watch -- after knowing the resolution and ending, Act 2's flashbacks may become more clear. But for a first-time viewer, be aware that you may have to pay really close attention once the film "calms down" a bit.
Despite all that, "The Villainess" is an excellent and rare thriller that should've received a much wider release. Overall, I loved it, and can't wait to see it again.