Mark Reviews Movies: BEASTS CLAWING AT STRAWS

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | October 20, 2020

A bag filled with cash is at the dark heart of Beasts Clawing at Straws. While the plot of writer/director Kim Young-hoon's debut film mostly explains where that bag came from and how it gets from one point to the next, it does so with dexterity and playful trickiness. This film isn't about much more than the clever puzzle of the money, as it's moved to and fro on account of varieties of greed, but Kim's storytelling is so devious in terms of structure and vibrant in terms of technique that the game is consistently engaging.

The characters—all of them struggling financially and forced to confront the various faults in their respective consciences—are a big help, too. Kim's story (based on the novel by Keisuke Sone) begins with the bag of money, as it's placed by unknown hands into a locker at the sauna of a hotel.

Jung-man (Bae Seong-woo), an attendant there, discovers the bag and hides it in storage. He once ran a restaurant that went under, so his family could use the unexpected help.

Meanwhile (or at least it seems that way), customs officer Tae-Young (Jung Woo-sung) owes money to Du Man (Jung Man-sik), a violent crime lord. Technically, Tae-Young's wife owes the debt, but she ran, leaving her husband with the bill.

Then, there's Mi Ran (Shun Hyun-bin), an escort, who also has a debt to pay. She comes up with a plan to get rid of two problems at once, and after a fatal error in judgment, her boss Yeon-Hee (Jeon Do-Yeon) offers to clean up the mistakes out of apparent compassion.

There's a lot of plot here—schemes being planned, going wrong, and coming into conflict with other characters' previously unknown schemes. The whole affair consists of plots within plots and all of those assorted plots within the overall plot, which revolves around the questions of from where the money originated, how it ended up in that locker, and who finally will end up with it.

All of this might sound hollow, and in a broad way, Beasts Clawing at Straws certainly is. Kim, though, possesses a steady command of the assorted plotlines and displays crafty restraint in the gradual revelation of the bigger pieces of this puzzle. The film may be all about plot, but that doesn't really matter when it's assembled and uncovered this well.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products

Buy the DVD

Buy the Blu-ray