Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)

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 (as Joon Ho Bong)

Writers:

Joon-ho Bong (as Joon Ho Bong), Ji-ho Song

Stars:

Doona Bae, Sung-Jae Lee, Hee-Bong Byun

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Sung-Jae Lee	...	Yun-ju
Doona Bae	...	Hyeon-nam
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hee-Bong Byun	...	Janitor (as Hie-bong Byeon)
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:

slapstick comedy | dog | bookkeeper | bribe | lost dog | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

19 February 2000 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Barking Dogs Never Bite

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment, Cinema Service, Uno Film

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

21:36 that is Projectile vomiting. Its a type of severe vomiting in which stomach contents can be forcefully propelled several feet away from you

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Connections

Referenced in Growing Up Fisher: Trust Fall (2014)

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Soundtracks

Barking Dogs Never Bite
Composed and performed by Cherry Filter

User Reviews

Delightfully eccentric black comedy

BARKING DOGS NEVER BITE (AKA: A Higher Animal) (2000).

Delightful black comedy with a signature role for Tube's Bae Doo-na as a plucky girl who witnesses a henpecked student throw a dog that annoyed him off the roof of a neighboring apartment building, and proceeds to hunt him down for the rest of the movie.

Things get funkier when the guy realizes he tossed the wrong animal! One memorable scene has crusader Bae, in her ubiquitous yellow windbreaker, chasing the villain across rooftops in slow motion, while in the background, hundreds of imagined onlookers, also in her trademark attire, cheer her on! Many may cringe at the apartment janitor with an affinity for dog meat, but the filmmakers wisely treat this as an everyday occurence - not some shock gross-out thing as most Westerners might be inclined to expect - and acknowledge it as part of the culture that the younger generation is not exactly comfortable with. The Korean DVD subtitles provide the title as A HIGHER ANIMAL. Perhaps by the time you read this, it will be listed in the alternate title section on the main page. I give it an 8.