Unlikeable Characters is a Mostly Well-Crafted Movie

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2019)

This supposedly best film of 2019 South Korean venture into mystery, comedic thrills is for some hard to digest with not so likeable characters. There are grifters and then there are likeable grifters like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), The Grifters (1990), and Heartbreakers (2001). This movie in a fascinating way has similarities to a "evil" version of The Pink Panther (1963) or a more frightening chilly version of The Ice Storm (1997). Over time, the movie does seem to increase in its compelling mystery including a number of well-done tense scenes and twists. It's problematic though that such talented grifters would be living in such a disheveled, shoddy accommodations almost as if the director scripted it that way for dramatic effect and the father's outrageous behavior at the end seems a little overall the top without real sense of consistency with the storyline, except again to adhere to some dramatic script design to impress critics or audience members. Admittedly this movie succeeds in its intensity and captivating ambiance while building a sense of off-balanced comedy psychological drama. Yet the overall impact is an unsympathetic resonance that while attractive is also quite repulsive.