The Bong Joon-ho Collection (The Host / Mother / Barking Dogs Never Bite)

'Barking Dogs Never Bite' is basically an extended South Korean remake of one of Seinfeld's best episodes about an attempt of ever-increasing futility where a dog drives a couple of the characters insane with its ceaseless yipping, barking and hyperactivity; these are then equally matched in the second half of the show by a just-as-insane set of bungled attempts at disposing of the animal at fault. It's Seinfeld, so you're already aware of how it will all end. And just like Seinfeld, this movie is a Korean horror comedy (aka black comedy), so we already know how this movie will end too--SK cinema isn't known for its happy-ending-sugarcoated-overdosed filmmaking like it's Hollywood counterpart.Regardless, as a debut directorial effort,.Barking Dogs Never Bite is wonderfully simple in its themes and plot progression while having the rare quality of being addictively complex and well crafted with a sort of artisinal skill that all the greatest filmmakers seem to possess.There's nothing about BDND that tries too hard. It's a movie with a singular focus in terms of plot and it doesn't try to drown you in a layered narrative like a more pompous/egotistical production would. There's also some rather stunningly 'normal' or 'human' extended conversational dialogue interspersed throughout the story that make for some.of the film's most interesting moments, like the segue about Boiler Kim and his ire for corrupt developers.This is a change of pace from the likes of The Host and is more in line with the more loose but concise storytelling of Mother. Regardless, it's a dark good dark comedy and definitely deserves to be seen at least once for fans of Korean Cinema.

Finally! I've been waiting nine years for this movie to come out on US DVD, ever since I saw it at the first New York Korean Film Festival in 2001. I knew it was just a matter of time, since director Bong has gotten a lot of international attention for his three subsequent features, "Memories of Murder," "The Host" and "Mother."Those are all terrific, but this this simultaneously depressing and exhilarating black comedy on the suburban rat race is still his best. It's got all the stuff that makes Bong distinctive - his caustic cynicism about human nature and human institutions combined with an unfeigned compassion for humans as individuals; an affection for marginal, oddball types that doesn't tip into sentimental idealization; snappy visual wit full of imaginative framing and editing; a finely tuned ear for enormously funny but penetrating dialogue; a glee in booby-trapping the plot with surprises large and small; a daring but exquisitely right mix of contrasting tones - horror and humor, slapstick and melancholy.The actors are all perfect, particularly the two iconic leads. Handsome superstar Lee Sung-jae plays against type beautifully as a henpecked, career-stalled academic so spineless and full of repressed rage he seems about to curl into himself and vanish. And this was my first glimpse of the enchanting Bae Doo-na, Korea's #1 actress for playing endearing misfits and no-hopers, something she's never done better than here.I could go on and on - this is a little-acknowledged modern classic. Whatever the hell "modern classic" means.(But yeah, if you're supersqueamish about harm to cute, fluffy dogs, you might want to approach with caution - it's a major part of the story. That said, there's a disclaimer at the beginning that no animals were harmed in the shoot, and there's nothing onscreen that makes me think otherwise - it's mostly offscreen suggestion.)

It's been a long time since I've written a review for Amazon, but I thought that this product deserves it. Disregarding the negative comments on the site that talk about the film, if you've already seen it and loved it- this is a great economic release. It's not often that Korean (or any Asian films, for that matter) come with Spanish subtitles, but this one does!In short, it comes with subtitles in English and Spanish, as well as including an interview with Doona Bae, besides the trailer and highlights of the film.The Latin American region (R4 on DVD, I think) for Asian releases is greatly under-explored. I've actually never heard of an Asian film being properly released on an R4 DVD unless it's Crouching Tiger, so there's a huge vacuum for Spanish-speaking Asian film lovers that wouldn't necessarily know how to speak English, so I had always wondered why some of the publishers aren't trying to fill in this void. So thank you, Mongrel Media for this release. Hope you acquire more Asian titles and expand on the subtitle options.More publishers should do the same.