Worth: $13.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Jin Seon-kyu, Jeon Jong-seo, Chang Ryul
Intro:
… there’s a wild ride in store for those with the stomach (kidneys, liver, and heart) to keep up.
K-Drama Bargain opens on a seemingly grimy transaction in a dimly lit hotel room. Here we meet Noh Hyeong-su (Jin Seon-kyu), a man in his forties trying to bargain down the price of teen sex-worker Park Joo Young’s (Jeon Jong-seo) services from $1000 to $70. This already lurid situation mutates into pure nightmare fuel as Noh strips down for what he assumes is about to be a good time only to be bound, gagged, and blindfolded as the tables turn, and suddenly it’s Noh’s body on the auction block.
A room full of bidders, from money-hungry black-market shoppers to family members desperate for a way to save their dying loved ones (Chang Ryul, for example, henceforth known as the Good Son), gather to place their offers on the unwilling Noh’s organs. Joo Young, the playful ingenue, transforms into a competent businesswoman, far more in control of both the situation and Noh’s own fate than he ever could have realised. That is until an even more dramatic disaster strikes, a freak earthquake that sends the building toppling down around their ears. All bets are off as what started with one unsuspecting man fighting for his life soon becomes a chaotic battle for survival where nowhere is safe and there’s no one to trust.
An adaptation of director Woo-Sung Jeon’s short form series from 2015 takes on a whole new life with added twists and turns. What started out as a dystopian commentary on capitalism via human-trafficking is now an erratic thriller throwing curve ball after curve ball to keep the audience on their toes. Using a blend of long shots, camera tricks, and visual illusion to make each scene feel like one continuous take, Jeon takes us on a journey to the extremes of human nature, following our three leads from floor to floor as alliances are made and broken, the seamless movement of the long-take technique only broken up by fight scenes and physical obstacles.
There’s an almost video-game like quality to the story, as characters struggle to make their way from level to level, facing a range of hostile threats in their effort to reach the literal boss fight in the penthouse, only to respawn in the bloody and barren basement when the fights go badly and they’re knocked back to the beginning.
A fresh and inventive take on self-contained disaster stories like Skyscraper, The Towering Inferno, and Earthquake, with a darkly comedic twist, the action may ebb and flow, but the show is never static. Between killers and thieves, undercover cops and desperate bounty hunters, there’s a wild ride in store for those with the stomach (kidneys, liver, and heart) to keep up.
