Filthy rich – or just filthy? Im Sang-Soo’s exposé of a Seoul family corporation is stymied by a humourless regurgitation of observations about power, corruption and lies.
Despite a potentially delirious story about a feud between a steely matriarch and her philandering chairman husband, Im eschews the excess Korean cinema does so well to adopt a stately approach bordering on torpor.
Combined with a misguided focus on secretary Young-Jak (Kim Kang-Woo) it feels like Im intended this as a moral fable. He should have played for laughs; material this blunt works best as satire.