Director: Min Kyu-dong
Writers: Kim Dong-wan, Min Kyu-dong
Stars: Lee Hye-young, Kim Sung-cheol, Yeon Woo-jin
Synopsis: An aging assassin with a knack for taking out society’s worst encounters a young protégé eager to learn the trade. As they form an unlikely bond, the veteran killer discovers fresh purpose in her twilight years of violence and routine.
Spoiler alert: The old woman does have a knife in The Old Woman with the Knife. Eventually, though, she carries a gun to eliminate a horde of baddies when a relatively simple situation begins to overcomplicate itself. But director Min Kyu-dong always goes back to the knife, at any given opportunity, because it’s “Hornclaw”’s (Lee Hye-young) weapon of choice. Hornclaw is the nickname she gave to herself after a traumatic event in her past led her to become the young protégé of an assassin. In her 60s, she now works for a secretive organization that specializes in killing the biggest of all vermin, but faces a new challenge when a young man with the nickname of “Bullfight” (Kim Sung-cheol) wants to work with her.
Of course, she works alone and accomplishes all of her assignments on her own. However, Bullfight is so eager to meet her that he always interferes with her work. What she doesn’t know, however, is his true identity, related to an event that has shaped the rest of his life ever since he was a child. That’s about as far as I will go without revealing a thing, as the pleasure of watching The Old Woman with the Knife is learning the story developments as the 124-minute runtime progresses.
It does, frequently, complicate itself as if it’s a piece of soap opera, but there’s never a dull moment inside Kyu-dong’s genre hybrid that goes from a nifty slasher to a poignant character drama so it can end with an action-filled climax sure to rock your world. The truth is that, as Hornclaw ages, she is beginning to question her place in this society and whether or not she is a good person, after all the harm she has caused for the better part of forty years. It’s only after meeting veterinarian Dr. Kang (Yeon Woo-jin) that Hornclaw begins to open up and potentially realize that she can, if she wants to, do some good on this planet as her time begins to dwindle.
Is it because she is finally reckoning with her own mortality – and age – that she has grown a conscience that is at odds with what she’s doing? Or is it because a figure from her past has come back to her life and wants revenge for what she has committed? It’s possibly the most unclear thematic (and narrative) thread of the whole movie, but it also continuously keeps us on our toes. The constant parallels to her actions in the present, which communicates with what she did in the past, is a great bit of associative editing that recurs as the film’s story develops. In fact, the editing is a massive highpoint of the whole package, notably a match cut so thrilling during the climax that I had to rewind my digital screener five times to properly sink in such a major visual cue.
And it’s incredible how it unabashedly steals from a known video game, to then cut to the exact image from that game (what it is, I’ll let you find out on your own) and get away with it. Few filmmakers are able to execute it like this, but it’s also part of the development of such a character like Bullfight, who associates his past with Hornclaw with the strong images he took away from his time with her. The movie will frequently cut to fragments of Bullfight’s past, as he interacts with Hornclaw, so the audience can understand his connection with her, and her connection with him, as well. It’s mutual, but since she doesn’t recognize him, the confrontation between the two is semi-complicated.
Had the film only focused on this particular aspect, it probably would’ve been one of the best thrillers of the year. Its action sequences are terrifically shot and cut, particularly the final knife fight. As much as Kyu-dong allows the old woman to carry more than just a knife, it eventually leads us back to the titular weapon and makes the audience observe her dexterity at manipulating such a dangerous object. In any event, the movie culminates in one of the year’s most thrilling finales, a terrific mélange of various fighting styles until the knife makes its grand return and directly shows us why Hornclaw is not to be screwed with.
As the protagonist, Hye-young imbues her with as much complexity as possible, especially when Kyu-dong develops her through fractured flashbacks, where she is played by Shin Si-ah. Both portrayals of the protagonist are equally affecting, from our understanding of the trauma she has turned into pure rage that feeds her violence, to her atonement of her past sins as she grows older. The relationship between Hornclaw and Bullfight is incredibly complicated, especially when she finds out his identity. Sung-cheol is also terrific in the movie, as a worthy opponent to Hornclaw, even if Kyu-dong eventually loses the meaning of that conflict through subplots involving the veterinarian and his daughter, and trying to build a shadowy organization for its assassins that feels highly reminiscent of the world of John Wick.
Yet, even with those hurdles, The Old Woman with the Knife succeeds in drawing an entertaining thriller with a few narrative tricks up its sleeves to keep the audience invested. It helps that it contains as much verve as it can to visually stimulate genre aficionados, especially when it’s executed so well. Do yourself a favor and go in as blind as possible, and you may end up appreciating it more when you reach the end credits…
