The bad guy of the title is Han-gi (Cho Jae-hyn), a silent psychopath obsessed with virginal college girl Sun-hwa (Seo Won) who he abducts and forces to become a $50 whore in his neon-lit brothel. He then spends the rest of the film watching her having sex through a conveniently placed two-way mirror.
The latest film from writer/director Kim Ki-duk - infamous among Asian horror fans for wince-inducing scenes involving sexual violence and fishhooks in The Isle - is another exploitative offering of sexual fantasy, prostitution and violence. It's also, in its own strange way, a love story.
Han-gi may be a hardman, but his trademark silence is nothing more than a cover for his high-pitched squeaky voice and puppy love for Sun-hwa. It's just a shame he seems to think the girl wants to be raped, beaten and farmed out to the city's dirty-mac brigade. Now surely a bunch of roses and a few chocolates would have been much easier for all concerned.
