20 Best Movies Of 2017

11. The Handmaiden

The Handmaiden
CJ Entertainment

Oldboy and Snowpiercer director Park Chan-wook takes Sarah Waters' novel Fingersmith from Victorian England to 1930s Korea, and hones in on the eroticism of the book.

The results are dazzling, offering up a tense psychological thriller that also plays out as a twisted love affair. It is sumptuously designed and intricately shot, as you might well imagine if you're familiar with the director's work, with moments of surreal comedy, searing brutality, and sexual tension that occasionally is allowed to explode into life.

The narrative, which sees a conman operating as a count in order to seduce a Japanese heiress and steal her fortune, is a complex web of lies and betrayals, counter-lies and counter-betrayals, with twist piled upon twist in a way that makes it completely unpredictable, catches you off-guard, and yet never stops making sense. It's also a funnel for an exploration of class, gender, and the political divides of the era, which Park handles with care.

It's a strange and sexy film, a beguiling beast that constantly finds ways to surprise you and leaves you feeling completely enchanted by its considerable charms.

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Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.