The Previous Girl with the Knife is a fascinating, spectacularly convoluted thriller that twists and turns by means of a myriad of subplots. Tailored from the hit 2022 South Korean novel by Gu Byeong-mo, the movie addresses growing older, loneliness and objective by means of action-packed carnage as a legendary murderer within the twilight of her bloody profession is confronted by a vicious younger upstart with a stunning agenda. In the long run, its slick cinematography and modifying cannot overcome an extreme flashback construction that builds to an overblown finale. However the mysterious protagonist and her equally enigmatic adversary are magnetic.
The story begins on a snowy village street in 1975, as a younger girl (Shin Sia) strolling with out sneakers collapses. She nearly freezes to demise, however destiny intervenes as a automobile drives by. Ryu (Kim Mu-yeol) and his pregnant spouse take her to their restaurant, permitting her to commerce lodging for work as a dishwasher. The nonetheless unnamed girl wonders why Ryu is at all times away; “pest management,” he says.
The Previous Girl with the Knife
3
/5
- Launch Date
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April 30, 2025
- Runtime
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123 minutes
- Director
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Min Kyu-dong
- Writers
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Min Kyu-dong
- Producers
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Min Jin-soo
Destiny Intervenes
Ryu’s actual work is revealed after his dishwasher is pressured to defend herself from an unpleasant assault. He belongs to an company that rids the town of troublesome “vermin,” as murderers, abusers and grasping executives are eradicated in staged accidents. Every member information their actions, and information a report after a mission is accomplished. They’re assigned names based mostly on murderous ways: The dishwasher is now referred to as “Nails.”
Quick-forward to now, the place Nails has renamed herself Hornclaw (Lee Hye-young) — though most individuals respectfully confer with her as “Godmother.” The company is flourishing, due to her many years of meticulous killing and stringent adherence to protocol. However time has caught as much as Hornclaw. Her bodily deterioration enrages the pest management company’s newest chief, who recruits conniving sociopath Bullfight (Kim Sung-cheol), a brash newcomer with a large physique depend whose causes for supplanting Hornclaw are extra private than she realizes.
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The premise is established inside quarter-hour of the opener, leaving many questions unanswered: How did Nails develop into Hornclaw? What occurred to Ryu? And why is Bullfight so obsessive about the Godmother? Author/director Min Kyu-dong (Memento Mori, In My Finish Is My Starting) solutions these questions in flashbacks interspersed all through the movie, as Hornclaw remembers the previous when she’s triggered by present occasions. Min bounces backwards and forwards by means of completely different components of Hornclaw’s life, framing the larger image.
This construction takes some time to get acclimated, nevertheless it does obtain Min’s objective of most viewers consideration. You actually cannot miss any exposition, or danger discovering the remaining narrative complicated. This is not a movie for informal viewing and a number of lavatory breaks. The excellent news is that the performing, motion and character improvement are engrossing; you are genuinely focused on Hornclaw’s backstory — at the very least, till a third-act climax that bites off greater than it will probably chew.
Improbable Lead Performances
The Previous Girl with the Knife additionally has a major subplot concerning Dr. Kang (Yeon Woo-jin), a sort veterinarian, and his younger daughter, who humanize Hornclaw in a approach that threatens the company’s secrecy. She’s not an unrepentant monster slaughtering for private satisfaction. She believes that pest management is a essential evil, and that dangerous individuals should die to guard the nice, however caring for Kang places a chink in her armor.
Lee Hye-young is one among South Korea’s largest stars, and she or he’s rattling good right here. Hornclaw’s deadly experience runs the gamut of bodily fight and weaponry, however she prefers a subtler strategy for cleaner kills and components in her age and illnesses when she’s making ready to fill the morgue. She trains continually for peak readiness, however executing vengeance has left a gap in her life. Hornclaw’s loneliness opens the door for Kang’s kindness, presenting a special path than the one she’s walked for many years.
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In the meantime, Kim Sung-cheol almost steals the present because the villainous Bullfight, grinning and sneering whereas dishing out his victims. He enjoys inflicting punishment on the physique and the thoughts, and has darkish secrets and techniques which can be burning to be launched. Bullfight desires Hornclaw to undergo slowly at his fingers, which means that her enemies are additionally his.
Sadly, The Previous Girl with the Knife succumbs to its flaws in a labored climax the place Min’s sharp modifying vanishes when most wanted. You lastly get the breadth of the story, nevertheless it simply takes approach too lengthy to get there. A shorter minimize with a tighter third act would have ended the movie on a much better footing.
The Previous Girl with the Knife has Korean dialogue with English subtitles. A SooFilm manufacturing, will probably be launched theatrically on Might sixteenth from Effectively Go USA Leisure.