Beasts Clawing at Straws

Beasts Clawing at Straws (, Japanese: 藁にもすがる獣たち Wara ni mo sugaru kemonotachi) is a 2020 South Korean neo-noir black comedy crime thriller film written and directed by Kim Yong-hoon as his debut feature film. Based on the 2011 Japanese novel of the same name by Keisuke Sone, it features an ensemble cast led by Jeon Do-yeon and Jung Woo-sung. It was released on February 19, 2020.

The film had its world premiere at the 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 25, 2020, in the Tiger Competition.

Plot
Joong-man, stuck in a thankless job and forced to care for his ailing mother, finds a huge bag of money left at a sauna. Tae-young, a customs officer in debt to criminal Mr. Park, plots with one of Park's henchmen to run a lucrative scam on a "sucker" attempting to flee the country. Mi-ran, an escort with an abusive husband, finally sees a way out when one of her clients offers to murder him in exchange for a cut of his life insurance policy. The three characters all cross paths with dangerous people and get into increasingly deeper trouble as they attempt to cheat their way toward the ultimate payout. In the end, Joong-man loses his house due to a fire set by Yeon-hee to cover up her murder of Park to get the money. Afterwards Yeon-hee is killed by Park's lieutenant to avenge his boss. She drops the key for the locker that contains her bag of money. Joong-man's wife, who works as a cleaning lady at the airport, finds the key and retrieves the money, enabling Joong-man to restart his life.

The film is separated into six chapters: Debt, Sucker, Food Chain, Shark, Lucky Strike and Money Bag.

Main

 * Jeon Do-yeon as Yeon-hee
 * Jung Woo-sung as Tae-young
 * Youn Yuh-jung as Soon-ja
 * Bae Seong-woo as Joong-man
 * Shin Hyun-been as Mi-ran
 * Jung Man-sik as Park Doo-man
 * Jin Kyung as Young-sun
 * Jung Ga-ram as Jin-tae

Supporting

 * Bae Jin-woong as Catfish
 * Heo Dong-won as Manager
 * Shim So-young as Flower shop owner
 * Kim Jun-han as Jae-hoon
 * Park Ji-hwan as Carp

Special appearance

 * Yoon Je-moon as Myung-goo

Development
Japanese author Keisuke Sone, who wrote the novel on which the film is based, "is a fan of Korean films" and "was very welcoming" to the idea of a film adaptation according to director Kim Yong-hoon.

Casting
Director Kim Yong-hoon first showed his script to actress Jeon Do-yeon who accepted the offer and convinced Youn Yuh-jung to join the cast.

Filming
Principal photography began on August 30, 2018, and filming ended on November 30.

Release
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was postponed by a week (being released on February 19, 2020, instead of February 12), but the delay had little impact as the situation did not improve by then.

Critical response
On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on  reviews, with an average rating of.

Jay Weissberg of Variety said that "Beasts Clawing at Straws could just as well be called "Beasts Toying with Clichés" if it weren't such an amusing, echt Korean romp." For Neil Young of The Hollywood Reporter, "Beasts Clawing at Straws demands attention and patience, but thus happily ends up amply rewarding both." Wendy Ide of Screen International describes the film as an "almost Coen-sian tale of ordinary folks undone by greed [which] is a lot smarter than its occasionally crude execution would have you believe."