#690: KIM, Ki-Young: The Housemaid (1960)

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MARTIN SCORSESE'S WORLD CINEMA PROJECT {Spine #684}

KI-YOUNG, Kim (South Korea)
The Housemaid [1960]
Spine #690
Blu-ray


A torrent of sexual obsession, revenge, and betrayal is unleashed under one roof in this venomous melodrama from South Korean master Kim Ki-young. Immensely popular in its home country when it was released, The Housemaid is the thrilling, at times jaw-dropping story of the devastating effect an unstable housemaid has on the domestic cocoon of a bourgeois, morally dubious music teacher, his devoted wife, and their precocious young children. Grim and taut yet perched on the border of the absurd, Kim's film is an engrossing tale of class warfare and familial disintegration that has been hugely influtential on the new generation of South Korean filmmakers.

108 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
in Korean
1:60:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2013
Director/Writers


Written by Kim Ki-Young.
Screenplay by Kim Jeong-sook.
Kim was 41 when he directed The Housemaid.

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Sixty-eight page booklet featuring an essay by Kyung Hyun Kim.

Commentary

None.

Introduction

To the film by Martin Scorsese.

Interview

With filmmaker Bong Joon-ho.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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