Plots(1)
In the opening scene of Beasts Clawing at Straws, a big Louis Vuitton bag is stuffed into a locker. As the end credits roll, we see the same bag again in close-up, but in someone else’s hands. In the time between these two shots, director Kim Yonghoon presents a host of characters in his beautifully constructed crime drama, all of whom are hell-bent on putting the others out of the game. Having gone bankrupt, Joong-Man is forced to move back in with his mother, who has Alzheimer’s. He finds the bag full of money in a locker at a public baths, and sees it as the solution to all his (financial) problems. Customs official Tae-Young is also urgently in search of money, as his girlfriend has run off with the capital he borrowed from a shady moneylender. Mi-Ran has lost a fortune on the stock market and is now working as a 'hostess' to earn it back again. One day, an amorous client offers to kill her violent husband for her. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)
(more)Cast
Do-youn Jeon
South Korea
Best movies:
The Harmonium In My Memory (1999)
Crash Course in Romance (2023) (series)
Secret Sunshine (2007)
Woo-seong Jeong
South Korea
Best movies:
A Moment to Remember (2004)
Daisy (2006)
Sad Movie (2005)
Seong-woo Bae
South Korea
Best movies:
The Beauty Inside (2015)
My Paparotti (2013)
The Royal Tailor (2014)
Yuh-jung Youn
South Korea
Best movies:
Keys to the Heart (2018)
Canola (2016)
Maundy Thursday (2006)
Man-sik Jung
South Korea
Best movies:
I Hear Your Voice (2013) (series)
Vagabond (2019) (series)
No Mercy for the Rude (2006)
Kyeong Jin
South Korea
Best movies:
Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022) (series)
Gu Family Book (2013) (series)
My Little Bride (2004)
Hyeon-bin Shin
South Korea
Best movies:
The Youngest Son of a Conglomerate (2022) (series)
Cheer Up, Mr. Lee (2019)
Warrior Baek Dong Soo (2011) (series)
Ga-ram Jeong
South Korea
Best movies:
Beasts Clawing at Straws (2020)
4th Place (2015)
Believer (2018)
Ji-hwan Park
South Korea
Best movies:
1987: When the Day Comes (2017)
The Outlaws (2017)
Touch Your Heart (2019) (series)
Joon-han Kim
South Korea
Best movies:
Prison Playbook (2017) (series)
Hospital Playlist (2020) (series)
The Battleship Island (2017)
Dong-won Heo
South Korea
Best movies:
Misaeng: Incomplete Life (2014) (series)
The Outlaws (2017)
The King: Eternal Monarch (2020) (series)
Jae-wan Jo
South Korea
Best movies:
Shark (2013) (series)
Beasts Clawing at Straws (2020)
How to Steal a Dog (2014)
Jin-woong Bae
South Korea
Best movies:
Prison Playbook (2017) (series)
The Outlaws (2017)
Lawless Lawyer (2018) (series)
Je-moon Yoon
South Korea
Best movies:
IRIS (2009) (series)
A Dirty Carnival (2006)
Mother (2009)
Ho-joon Im
South Korea
Best movies:
Lookout (2017) (series)
Psychopath Diary (2019) (series)
Suspicious Partner (2017) (series)