4 Stars of Money is the root of all Evil, South Korean style.
This is Director Sang-Soo Im, The Housemaid, 7th outing, and he has created controversy and hype in his home country with his portrayal of the ultra rich and their links to corruption and crime.
Mr Joo, (Kang-woo Kim, Rainbow Eyes) has been working diligently for ten years for one of the richest families in South Korea and now he has been appointed to the household, to be a bag-boy, chauffeur and general help around this amazingly appointed home.
Mr Joo follows the Company President Yoon, (Yun-Shik Baek, The Presidents Last Bang) into the secret family cellar where there pallets of cash stacked six foot high.
Where he fills up two travel cases and is told to help himself to a bit of cash as everybody else has, but after his boss leaves he throws it back on the mountains of readies.
The cases are to buy off an official who is after Yoon’s cocky and gung-ho son Young-Jak, (Ju-wan On, My Mighty Princess) for all his dodgy dealings with Robert Altman, (Darcy Paquet, One Night Stand).
Mr Joo sees all that goes on in the house but he remains quiet about all, even if it makes his life uncomfortable with his employers.
Mr Yoon has a long-standing affliction “Contempt” except for the thing that brought him into this family ‘Money’ Grandpa Noh’s, (Kwon Byung-gil, Looking for my Wife) money to be precise.
It is his wife Baek Geom-ok, (Yeo-jeong Yoon, Hindsight) that controls all the real strings within the company and the household. She is granite until she finds that her husband has strayed again with the housemaid Eva, (Maui Taylor, Teach me to Love).
This widens the obvious cracks within the family and sets in motion plans to save the business and the face of the family, without causing a stir in the media as they are always hungry for gossip of the rich and famous, things are done differently in South Korea.
All to the distress for daughter Na-mi, (Hyo-jin Kim, Woochi) who has strong feelings for the hired help, Mr Joo who always plays it aloof.
How far will a woman scorned go to keep the family together?
This was a compelling watch even though it switches between subtitles and English in mid-sentence quiet often, but the intrigue and the sexual exploits of the family members keeps you enthralled.
Available to buy on DVD Now.