Filmmaker Kim Yong-Hoon draws from Fargo, Quentin Tarantino, and decades of twisty crime thrillers for his feature debut, a gleefully mercenary, blackly humorous neo-noir centered on a small fortune of cash in a Louis Vuitton bag.
Beasts Clawing at Straws opens with said valise being dropped in a bathhouse locker, where an overworked attendant (Bae Sung-Woo) finds it abandoned and, overcoming initial temptation, stuffs it in the backroom. We are subsequently introduced to two additional characters whose lives will become tangled with the money, though not necessarily in ways we can anticipate: Mi Ran (Shin Hyon-Bin), a bar girl with financial troubles and an abusive lout of a husband, and Tae-Young (Jung Woo-sung), a customs agent in debt to a brutal loan shark thanks to a girlfriend who took the money and fled.
As the story unfolds and more characters are introduced, most notably Yeon-Hee (Jeon Do-yeon), a brothel madam who takes a protective interest in Mi Ran before revealing her true colors as a ruthless femme fatale, the narrative twists and turns keep viewers off-balance, promoting supporting characters into leading roles and killing off characters we expected to survive, at least until the climax. Kim crosscuts not just across stories but across timelines, jumping back and forth in time in ways that don't become clear until well into the film.
This is a thoroughly mercenary world where the cops are corrupt, hitmen love their work, seemingly innocent characters turn into killers, and the TV news is a constant stream of reported murders and body parts strewn across the countryside (most of them thanks to our characters). There is no loyalty among thieves here as everyone is quick to betray a partner for a shot at the cash. Jeon Do-yeon stands out in a solid cast as a femme fatale who is so ruthless she may surprise even the most jaded or savvy viewers. The unrated film features nudity, brutality, and gory violence. In Korean with English subtitles. Recommended.