Reviewed by Wong Lung Hsiang

Korean Title: Flandersui gae
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Writing credits: Bong Joon-ho, Song Ji-ho, Derek Son Tae-woong
Cast: Lee Sung-jae, Bae Du-na
Genre: Comedy
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean
Year released: 2000
Runtime: 106 min
Rating: **½ (out of four stars)

The first three minutes of this film (right before the opening credits) seems like a sitcom-style student short film of mediocre quality. As the story unfolds, everything clicks together and becomes a wonderful social satire of South Korea. Don't get me wrong but by social satire I don't mean heavily analytical commentary. The black comedy touches various aspects of the modern urban culture without drilling into the depth. However, I am reluctant to use the word shallow on this film, simply because the debut director/screenwriter's brilliant threading of individual subplots making all the elements and characters seamlessly bring up his view on the society - a society that is full of people of different frequencies that frequently bump into each other and cause unnecessary but unavoidable conflicts. Yes, it's more than just a story about dog lovers vs. dog haters vs. dog eaters. And oh, the use of Jazz music is wonderful (especially in the thrilling and funny chasing scene).