The Handmaiden

Photo credit: www.thewrap.com

The Handmaiden is a milestone for me. Why? Because it is the first time I watched a film illegally knowing that I'm doing so. I felt really bad afterwards but nowadays there just is not any other format to watch films you want to watch. The dilemma is that they are right there, available at your fingertips and it makes no sense to wait for the dvd etc. to enjoy the viewing. I feel bad and worry that Mr. Wook and the production company will be waiting for me in the other world and even if they will not (for instance forgiving me for the tresspass in their intellectual property) will God forgive me? Is it really that important to watch a film right there and then (it has always been my film viewing weakness to want to watch/read stuff right there and then, curbed by lack of means, regional zone laws, living far from theaters that actually show them in the event that they are even released in my country. It was really hard to stand up against the dvd piracy but I somehow did it thank God and now I need to stand against this ease of availability. I'm actually more comfortable with TV series since they get their money and don't care that much about pirated stuff going around - and there simply is no other option if one wants to watch them. But films are different and Netflix just doesn't have the type of things that I want.

I guess I'll stop doing this since I feel awful. Curiously though I didn't feel these while viewing. Remorse hit me afterwards.

As for the film, it was not Mr. Wook's best effort. I read the novel which was very good (but then again I like Sarah Waters) with a lot more twists (that would probably need a TV series in order to put them all in) and this is yet another case of the book being better than the film.

At least he kept the feminist message and the actors were very good.