Beasts Clawing at Straws
Beasts Clawing at Straws (, Japanese: 藁にもすがる獣たち "Wara ni mo sugaru kemonotachi") is a 2020 South Korean black comedy crime thriller film written and directed by Kim Yong-hoon as his debut feature film. Based on the 2011 Japanese novel of the same name by Keisuke Sone, it stars Jeon Do-yeon, Jung Woo-sung, Youn Yuh-jung, Bae Seong-woo, Shin Hyun-been, Jung Man-sik, Jin Kyung and Jung Ga-ram. It was released on February 19, 2020. The film had its world premiere at the 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 25, 2020  in the Tiger Competition. Plot. Joong-man, stuck in a thankless job and forced to care for his ailing mother, finds a huge bag of money left in a sauna. Tae-young, a customs officer in debt to criminal Mr. Park, plots with one of Park's henchmen to run a lucrative scam on a "sucker" attempting to flee the country. Mi-ran, an escort with an abusive husband, finally sees a way out when one of her clients offers to murder him in exchange for a cut of his life insurance policy. The three characters all cross paths with  dangerous people and get themselves into increasingly deeper trouble as they attempt to cheat their way towards the ultimate payout. At the end, Joong-man lost his house due to the fire set by Yeon-Hee to cover-up her murder of Park to get the money but after Yeon-Hee is killed by the Park's lieutenant to avenge his boss, she drops the locker key for locker that contains her bag of money. Joong-man's wife who worked as a cleaning lady in the airport stummed upon the key and retrieve the money, enabling Joong-man to  restart his life. The film is separated into six chapters: Debt, Sucker, Food Chain, Shark, Lucky Strike and Money Bag. Production. Development. Japanese author Keisuke Sone, who wrote the novel on which the film is based, "is a fan of Korean films" and "was very welcoming" to the idea of a film adaptation according to director Kim Yong-hoon. Casting. Director Kim Yong-hoon first showed his script to actress Jeon Do-yeon who accepted the offer and convinced Youn Yuh-jung to join the cast. Filming. Principal photography began on August 30, 2018 and filming ended on November 30 . Release. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was postponed by a week (being released on February 19, 2020 instead of February 12), but the delay had little impact as the situation did not improve by then. Reception. Critical response. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . Jay Weissberg of "Variety" said that ""Beasts Clawing at Straws" could just as well be called "Beasts Toying with Clichés" if it weren't such an amusing, echt Korean romp." For Neil Young of "The Hollywood Reporter", ""Beasts  Clawing at Straws" demands attention and patience, but thus happily ends up amply rewarding both." Wendy Ide of "Screen International" describes the film as an "almost Coen-sian tale of ordinary folks undone by greed [which] is a lot smarter than its occasionally crude execution would have you believe."