Sunday, August 19, 2012

THE TASTE OF MONEY - MIFF 2012



“The Taste Of Money” is often considered a spiritual sequel to director Im Sang-Soo’s previous film “The Housemaid” as it again looks at the effects money has on a person’s soul, as well as corruption, infidelity and the back room dealings in business by the filthy rich.  Like that previous film I found myself quite indifferent to “The Taste Of Money”.  That could be the worst thing you can say about a film, that it didn’t have an effect on you whatsoever, either positive or negative.  Sadly this was the case here and immediately after seeing the film, I remembered little of it.

When the matriarch of a multi-billion dollar business finds her husband having an affair with one of their lower-class maids, she sets out by getting revenge anyway she can.  First she cuts off her husband’s money, then takes away his travel visa (so he is unable to leave with the woman he now loves), and finally she takes away the woman he loves.  All this is done behind closed doors in an attempt to not cause a scandal that could threaten or destroy the business’s image.  Things start to get complicated when salaryman, Young-Jak gets corrupted by the thought of money and sees a way to work himself up the business ladder.  Young-Jak used to be as loyal as they came to the family but after witnessing the family destroying itself from within, he decides to get what he can while he can.  At the same time however he is falling in love with his boss’s daughter, who appears the only normal and moral member in the entire family.

“The Taste Of Money” just did nothing for me at all.  I found the story dull and poorly conceived and from a storytelling perspective, I found character’s motivations to be odd.  There were a number of times when certain characters would do certain things that just made little sense.  I also felt that it was strange that Im Sang-Soo made “The Taste Of Money” straight after making “The Housemaid” because they seem to cover the same material and themes and even stylistically they are more than very similar.  Thankfully the acting here is nowhere near as bad as the over the top performances that ruined “The Housemaid”.  It is obvious that Sang-Soo feels a sense of severe disdain towards the very rich (or at least the actions of the very rich) as he always depicts them as corrupt and being without conscience as long as the end result is that they make money.  I am sure he has a strong belief that the rich think they are above the law and can do what they want due to the money at their disposal, and Sang-Soo seems to want to expose this notion.

The style and look of the film also annoyed me, the cold colour palette contributing to its very slick look where everything has smooth and reflective surfaces.  Normally I love the use of reflections in cinema but they are so overdone in “The Taste Of Money” that they lose their effectiveness and just looks as if they are done to show off visually.  Speaking of showing off, the main thing that I did love about “The Taste Of Money” was a number of long and interesting, not to mention truly complicated camera moves.  The complexity of these moves made my mouth drop in awe, they were outstanding, it is just a shame they weren’t used in a better film.

Overall “The Taste Of Money” was neither good or bad, and failed to illicit any sort of emotion out of me at all.  While it is obvious that Im Sang-Soo has talent in moving the camera, his storytelling needs work, because this is the second consecutive film from him that has just left me cold.


2.5 Stars.


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