Directed by: Kim Yong-hoon
Starring: Jeon Do-yeon (전도연), Jung Woo-sung (정우성), Bae Seong-woo (배성우), Youn Yuh-jung (윤여정), Jung Man-sik (정만식), Jin Gyeong (진경), Shin Hyun-bin (신현빈), Jung Ga-ram (정가람)
Review: Beasts Clawing at Straws is a new highly anticipated crime drama film made by the production team responsible for The Outlaws (2017) and last year’s The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil (2019), and features a star-studded ensemble cast with Jung Woo-sung (Asura: The City of Madness, 2016) (Illang: The Wolf Brigade, 2018) and Jeon Do-yeon (Secret Sunshine, 2007) at the top of the bill, two giant actors within Korea coming together for the first time. Adapted from the Japanese novel of the same name written by Sone Keisuke, Beasts Clawing at Straws is an impressive debut for director Kim Yong-hoon that although can feel thin at times, is successful in constructing an engaging multi-narrative drama film full of colorful characters.
Struggling to make ends meet, fortune appears to have smiled upon sauna worker Joong-man (Bae Seong-woo) as he finds an unclaimed bag filled with an unbelievable amount of cash in a locker one evening while cleaning up at work. The money is sure to relieve stresses around the house for he and his wife (Jin Gyeong) who labors as an airport terminal bathroom cleaner and his sedentary mother (Youn Yuh-jung) suffering from dementia.
Meanwhile, the airport immigration officer Tae-young (Jung Woo-sung) has a dangerous loan shark, Boss Park (Jung Man-sik), hounding him for borrowed money that disappeared along with his now missing girlfriend Yeon-hee (Jeon Do-yeon). Yeon-hee is the manager of a men’s night club where Mi-ran (Shin Hyun-bin), who seeks to escape her abusive husband, works as a bar girl and befriends an illegal Chinese immigrant customer named Jin-tae (Jung Ga-ram). Beasts Clawing at Straws (2020) intertwines these four different main narratives that unfold to reveal an interconnected dark and twisted web of crime and deception.
Beasts Clawing at Straws takes place over seven uniquely titled chapters, and perhaps much like its source material, has a very novelistic feel to the storytelling. Constructed similarly to Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994) or maybe more closer to his Jackie Brown (1997), the connections between the different characters and even the timeline of all the events don’t come into full view until several chapters deep. This leaves us guessing and predicting the various origins and outcomes of each character which can be a lot of fun with this style of storytelling.
The main drawback though comes with the time-constraints placed on fully fleshing out the individual stories. The screenplay for Beasts Clawing at Straws was apparently quite liberal with its edits and changes from the novel to fit the Korean setting, and adjusting some character traits even quite drastically too. For example, I read that the novel had a much bigger part carved out for Joong-man’s aging mother, which made a lot of sense after reading because Youn Yuh-jung’s (Keys to the Heart, 2018) role in the film as the mother seemed quite undeveloped.
Also, with there being so many characters and the film clocking in at a mere 108 minute run-time, which is fairly short for a Korean film of this genre, there was simply not enough time given to expand upon several of the characters. Jung Woo-sung’s character Tae-young was developed very well, but Jeon Do-yeon’s role as arguably the films most important character felt rushed as her motives were revealed. One segment of montage and voice over in particular, that although quite beautifully filmed and perhaps done to beat audiences from guessing ahead, felt like they skipped a gear or two in revving her character up.
Performances all-around couldn’t have been more solid though. Bae Seong-woo (The Great Battle, 2018) and Shin Hyun-bin (Confidential Assignment, 2017) were standouts and had me the most connected during their intense moments. The entire eclectic cast of characters harmonize surprisingly well and there is never a dull moment or a narrative you want sped up. In fact, you’ll probably be left wanting a bit more. The art direction and overall look of the film is also amazing. It had a vibe that reminds of the film Believer (2018) save for the thumping soundtrack and considerably less action sequences.
Beasts Clawing at Straws ultimately is a stylistic tale about the corrupting powers money and the breakdown of trust. The remaining impact of the film will rely on how novel one finds the storytelling as well as the ability to connect with the darker natures of each character.
Being based on a novel, I’d imagine that there was more the director wanted to include, so Beasts Clawing at Straws is one of those movies where you feel like (or hope that) an extended and perhaps even superior director’s cut may be hiding or in the works somewhere. Beasts is a film that invites repeated viewings, so I can only hope this is the case for it would make an excellent feature to include on the eventual home media format.
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