Bad Guy

A man who cannot speak traps a woman he sees on the street into debt and forces her to work in a brothel. As it goes on he becomes the one protecting her. The film ends with her choosing to stay with him, and that choice is left deliberately unresolved. Kim Ki-duk directed. Cho Jae-hyun plays Han-gi and Seo Won plays Sun-hwa. The budget was 590,000 dollars and it runs 100 minutes. It premiered at a festival on 11 November 2001 and opened in Korea on 11 January 2002, distributed by CJ Entertainment. It caused a major argument. Women's rights advocates called it misogynistic, citing how it handles gangsters, prostitution and sexual slavery. Despite that, or because of it, it became the director's greatest commercial success. Who it is for: almost nobody. Who it is not for: in practice most viewers. This is a warning rather than a recommendation. At the centre is a woman forced into prostitution, and the real problem is that the narrative pulls it toward a love story. The 2017 sexual assault allegations against the director are also on the table.