“A Regular Household” begins with the loss of life of a household, however not the one you may count on. Earlier than his movie turns its consideration to the household alluded to by its title, director Hur Jin-ho revs out the gate with a case of highway rage that ends in homicide. Or possibly not, if the lawyer defending the driving force in query has his means.
A person is useless and his eight-year-old daughter is critically injured within the hospital, however self-interested legal lawyer Jae-wan (“Kill Boksoon‘s” Sol Kyung-gu) is extra involved with saving the rich govt’s son who’s answerable for the killing. In the meantime, the lawyer’s youthful brother, physician Jae-gyu (“Arthdal Chronicles’” Jang Dong-gun), is working tirelessly to save lots of the sufferer’s daughter at a close-by hospital.
The pair couldn’t be extra totally different at first, a distinction that turns into sharper throughout meals they share with their wives and one another in a flowery restaurant every month. It’s at certainly one of these considerably stilted affairs that the brothers understand they’re truly each concerned in one another’s circumstances, with one imploring the opposite to do “the appropriate factor.” However as Hur Jin-ho‘s script (which he labored on with “Monster” co-writer Park Eun-kyo) expertly untangles, what is perhaps thought-about “proper” can change right away when private emotions are involved.
As a result of whereas the adults (fake to) take pleasure in a wonderful eating expertise collectively, their teenage children — Jae-wan’s daughter, Hye-yoon (Hong Ye-ji), and Jae-gyu’s youthful son, Yang Si-ho (Kim Jung-chul) — reveal themselves to be the type of people that will quickly must depend on the experience of a legal lawyer (and maybe an ER physician too).
The seeds are sown early on when Si-ho squashes a bug together with his finger and once more quickly after when he and his cousin secretly watch footage of that opening accident, cheering on the driving force like they’re watching a livestream of “GTA V.” They virtually get away the popcorn, overjoyed on the sight of a person dropping management on the expense of one other dropping his life. But not even that may fairly put together you for what they do subsequent.
Whereas their mother and father bicker over the worth of life, Si-ho and Hye-yoon show that it means nothing to them once they brutally assault a homeless man for kicks on their means residence from a celebration. It’s an unforgivable act, one they virtually get away with if not for a hidden CCTV digicam that brings to thoughts the work of Austrian auteur Michael Haneke. Like him, Hur Jin-ho is worried with the fragility of ethical standing and the way mercurial these not-so-concrete notions of proper and incorrect will be when evil sleeps simply down the corridor.
In that gentle, “A Regular Household” is a far cry from the director’s earlier work, usually characterised as sweetly romantic within the likes of “One Positive Spring Day” (2001), “Happiness” (2007) and “A Good Rain Is aware of” (2009). Right here, Hur Jin-ho strips romanticism away completely in favor of one thing far bleaker, a worldview that’s as miserable as it’s lifelike. Each body is slickly shot and constructed with the digicam usually held again at a distance from his protagonists, emphasizing the stark coldness that they arrive to embody, but there’s nothing black-and-white concerning the ethical area they occupy.
It’s on this messiness the place “A Regular Household” thrives, even when the household itself doesn’t, particularly within the three dinners that type the centerpiece by means of which each and every thread of rigidity is tightly wound. Mentioned rigidity simmers at first, and never simply between the siblings.
Sol Kyung-gu and Jang Dong-gun are each spectacular, bringing to life a long time of brotherly resentment with only a clipped tone or look. However it’s the wives, performed by Kim Hee-ae and Claudia Kim, who impress most with the fragile video games they play. Kim’s Ji-su is the lawyer’s a lot youthful trophy spouse who Hee-ae’s Yeon-kyung takes nice enjoyment of cruelly teasing — “Why is this lady current throughout our household assembly?” — as layers of resentment and jealousy dance between the 2.
Each expression and delicate shift in physique language is mesmerizing to observe, and the identical is true of the dinners themselves the place stereotypes crack after which crumble earlier than our eyes when 4 mother and father are confronted with an unimaginable alternative (“You declare innocence for criminals however you’ll report your personal child?”). The tempo sometimes lags in between these foundational highlights, however the scenes that join them stay a necessity, not simply because they enrich the dinners with much-needed context, but additionally as a result of they assist differentiate the movie from its supply materials to create one thing new and culturally particular.
Herman Koch’s unique Dutch novel, titled “The Dinner” in English, came about over the course of only one tumultuous meal. Hur Jin-ho may have simply adopted that very same route, however as a substitute, he expands the thought throughout a number of days and places to interrogate societal rules from a distinctly Korean perspective the place the hardships of cram faculty straight play into the violence.
With more room to work with, his and Park Eun-kyo’s script forges a rhythmic push-and-pull between all events involved, dissecting the lives of the wealthy with a pointy precision. It’s unimaginable to flee the insidious means privilege twists culpability and brokers guilt inside the framework of excessive society and people who revenue from it. Can lives be purchased? Can good deeds tip the dimensions? And the way accountable are we as mother and father for the actions of these we increase?
It’s commendable {that a} story tailored 3 times already by varied American and European filmmakers can stay as unpredictable because it does right here, and the identical is true of its refusal to present simple solutions. The specter of violence hangs over even probably the most quiet of moments, and — some shoddy CGI animals apart — the movie’s grip on that disturbing undercurrent is convincing all through. That’s why the ending works so nicely, an abrupt climax that’s darkly poetic and something however regular.
Grade: B
Room 8 Movies will launch “A Regular Household” in NYC & LA on Friday, April 25.
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