BEASTS CLAWING AT STRAWS: Kim Yong-Hoon’s Korean Heist Pic Now Playing In Select Theaters

Writer and director Kim Yong-hoon’s adapation of Keisuke Sone’s 2011 novel was a fine feat at the festivals with heist thriller, Beasts Clawing At Straws. The film is now playing at select cities and theaters in the U.S., and the studio has also provided a current listing as well.

A wild crime thriller about a bag of money left in a sauna and the eight strangers who, spurred by blinding greed, become intricately and dangerously involved with each. A fast-paced Coen-meets-The Grifters tale.

A Luis Vuitton bag stuffed full of cash sends a group of hard-luck lowlifes on a desperate chase for the fortune in this pitch-black neo-noir crime thriller. Fish-mongering gangsters, a greasy cop, an “innocent” gym cleaner, a prostitute, her wife beater of a husband, her ruthless boss and her clueless boyfriend all violently scheme to get their hands on elusive the bag. First time director Kim Yong-hoon’s witty thriller is a beautifully constructed puzzle that with each double-cross, the pieces fall into place.

Top-lining Beasts Clawing At Straws is a cast that lists Jeon Do-yeon, Jung Woo-sung, Bae Sung-woo, Yun Yuh-jung, Jung Man-sik, Jin Gyeong, Shin Hyun-been, Kim Jun-han, Jung Ga-ram, Park Ji-hwan and Heo Dong-won. The film even stopped by for this year’s 19th and virtual New York Asian Film Festival, and here’s a takeaway portion from my own review:

“…The film is cleverly written and executed, featuring line-up of some very dicey characters who are bound to get what’s coming to them in some way or another, regardless of their circumstances. To this affect, it’s a story where the ends justify the means, in a sense, culminating a story in Beasts Clawing At Straws that’s as punishing and titilating as it is vindicating.”

Check out the trailer above and make note of the listings below:

Filmbar (Phoenix, AZ)
Cinema SF (San Francisco, CA)
Cleveland Cinematheque (Cleveland, OH)
Lumiere (Los Angeles, CA)
North Park (Buffalo, NY)
Hollywood (Portland, OR)
Gateway (Columbus, OH)
Cameo (Fayetteville, NC)
Corazon Cinema (St. Augustine, FL)
Cinema 21 (Portland, OR)
Frida (Santa Ana, CA)

Opens Friday, October 23:

Laemmle (Los Angeles, CA)
Arena Theater (Point Arena, CA)
NYAFF (New York, NY)

Lee B. Golden III

filmcombatsyndicate@gmail.com | Web

Native New Yorker. Lover of all things pizza, chocolate, pets, and good friends. Karaoke hero. Left of center. Survivor. Fond supporter of cult, obscure and independent cinema - especially fond of Asian movies and global action cinema. Author of the bi-weekly Hit List. Founder and editor of Film Combat Syndicate. Still, very much, only human.