Last night, The Knockturnal had the pleasure of covering the premiere of Park Chan-wook’s new film,”The Handmaiden,” at the ArcLight Hollywood Theater in Los Angeles.
Park’s film was simply mesmerizing, and for many moments had the entire theater silent in awe. The film is not only visually stunning, but with an excellent cast and storyline. Park gifts us with a touching story of two women – a young Japanese Lady living on a secluded estate with quite a dark past, and a Korean woman who is hired to serve as her new handmaiden, but is secretly plotting with a conman to steal her inheritance. However, many twists and turns later, and the viewer questions whose side to be on. Inspired by the novel Fingersmith by British author Sarah Waters, “The Handmaiden” borrows the most dynamic elements of its source material and combines it with PARK Chan-wook’s brilliance to create an epic story.
Park prefaced the film:
“It’s kind of funny to think about, it started off as source material from a British English novel, and now we have taken it to Korea, where you have Korean and Japanese characters, and now I’m here in America to present it to you.”
“Along the way I’ve met many people from many different countries. The very act of me presenting this film to you tonight it’s kind of me reaching out to you tonight and extending an invitation for you to become friends with me. You know how it is when you meet someone new – it takes a little effort. With film, there are a lot of subtitles to put up with, so that’s the effort you will make to become friends with me. If you can bare with it, you can become friends with me. Take this source material and translate the story from Victorian to 1930’s Korea, when it was occupied by Japan.”
The lovely Tai-Ri Kim shared a few words as well:
“Hi! I’m playing the role of that girl over there [pointing to the poster], holding the hand of this woman. Of all of the films I will be in in the future, I’m not sure how many of them will end up meeting audiences from all over the world like this film is. I am meeting the film lovers from all around the world, which is why I’m excited to present this film tonight and I hope you enjoy it.”
It was quite honestly one of the best experiences. We highly recommend this film – a MUST SEE.
After the premiere, we headed over to Paley Restaurant, a few blocks away from the cinema. Outside the restaurant, in the courtyard of Neuehouse, Cinespia curated a temporary month-long art installation – which was AMAZING! The installation is called, Living Cherry Blossom Tree, in honor of Park Chan-Wook’s vivd tale.
This film will be released in theaters on October 21.
Photo Credit: Todd Williamson/Getty
