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| Dog Of Flanders is a very dark comedy. It's brilliant, actually! |
Dog Of Flanders, also known as Barking Dogs Never Bite and A Higher Animal, is an independent dark comedy movie released in South Korea in 2000. The movie stars Lee Sung-jae, Bae Doona, Kim Ho-jung, Go Soo-hee, Byun Hee-bong, Kim Jin-goo, and Kim Roi-ha. The movie was written (along with Song Ji-ho and Derek Son Tae-woong) and directed by Bong Joon-ho in his directorial debut.
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| Lee Sung-jae as Kon Yun-ju is a very flawed protagonist. |
In Dog Of Flanders, Lee Sung-jae plays Ko Yun-ju, a struggling academic who does menial jobs with dreams of becoming a university professor. He lives in an apartment with his wife, Eun-sil (played by Kim Ho-jung) who is pregnant, makes the majority of the money between them, and treats Yun-ju terribly. She gives him no affection, belittles him, and makes him do menial tasks for her at home. As you can imagine, Ko Yun-ju is frustrated with life, and he is especially frustrated with the constantly barking dogs in the apartment complex. So frustrated, that he decides to take matters into his own hands to stop the barking...
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| Bae Doon as Park Hyun-nam is the underdog you can totally root for. She's excellent in this. |
Park Hyun-nam (played by Bae Doona) is a book keeper and maintenance worker at the apartment complex who notices that people in the complex are coming in to get their 'Missing Dog' posters stamped. Hyun-nam wants to become famous after seeing a female bank teller fight off a robber on the news. One day, Hyun-nam and her friend Yoon Jang-mi (played by Go Soo-hee) are on the roof of a building across the apartment complex when Hyun-nam sees a man throw a dog off the roof to the ground below! Inspired by the bank teller (and fame), she chases after the man! Unfortunately for her, she never sees his face, and is unable to catch him.
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| Empathy and fame make you do crazy things. |
Ko Yun-ju's and Park Hyun-nam's paths cross when Yun-ju comes in to get his 'Missing Dog' posters stamped. His wife bought a dog (who she treats with love and affection), who he then lost while taking it out for a walk. Hyun-nam even helps Yun-ju put the posters up. Things get complicated when Yun-ju finds out the reason his wife bought the dog, and he becomes desperate to find it. Hyun-nam is still in search of the dog killer, and things intertwine from there...
I'm not going to lie, Dog Of Flanders is a somewhat disturbing movie. It has a disclaimer at the beginning claiming that 'No Animals Were Harmed In The Making Of This Movie'. From what is shown in the movie, they must've had state of the art special effects done, because the dog abuse looks way too real! So, there's a warning for those that are sensitive to that sort of thing.
Besides that, this movie is quite funny! It is very dark humor, but it is really good. The things that happen to Ko Yun-ju and Park Hyun-nam are just too cruel. Lee Sung-jae plays a very flawed underdog, who does some incredibly messed up things, but you still somewhat root for him. Bae Doon is also an underdog in this, but you relate to her much more. She is very empathetic and caring, even if she is a little naive. She actually reminds me of my cute friend in college (I miss her a lot). Bae Doon is just amazing in this movie! There are a lot of other eccentric characters in this that get their time to shine as well.
I highly recommend Dog Of Flanders! It is a must-see from Bong Joon-ho. It contains elements of dark comedy, drama, and horror that make up a movie where you don't know what it's leading to. It also has a deeper theme under the surface. It really makes you think. What can I say? I loved it!
Reviewed by David Williams
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