Barking Dogs Never Bite

Yun-ju, an unemployed academic scraping together the bribe he needs for a university post, is driven mad by dogs barking in his apartment block. First he takes one dog, then it grows. Hyun-nam, who works in the building's office and starts chasing the disappearances, comes after him. It is Bong Joon Ho's first feature. Lee Sung-jae plays Yun-ju and Bae Doona plays Hyun-nam. The title is a sardonic nod to an 1872 European novel popular in East Asia. The idea came from Bong's childhood, when he found a dead puppy on the roof of a building. He said he cast Bae Doona because she moved smoothly, like an octopus, and because her speech sounded real. The camera speeds were deliberately mixed, aiming to produce the feelings people have while watching a cartoon. It drew only 57,000 admissions on release. Critics came back to it later: Rotten Tomatoes sits at 88 percent with an 8.0 average, and a Time Asia critic called it possibly the most inventive Asian film of the year. Bong went on from here to Memories of Murder, The Host and Parasite. Who it is for: anyone who wants to see where Bong started, and viewers who like class anger and black comedy together. Who it is not for: anyone who cannot take violence toward dogs. The film keeps it in the same scene as the jokes and offers no relief.