Name: Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)
Cast: Lee Sung-jae, Bae Doona, Byun Hee-bong, Kim Ho-jung

Hoezo in KINO

Bong Joon Ho’s 2000 debut feature (after three shorts all produced in 1994) Barking Dogs Never Bite contains all the traits that would define his later works: class satire, dark humour, and not-so-subtle critique of Korean societal woes. A small, everyday story about annoyance completely spirals out of control when a part-time college lecturer takes drastic measures to end the incessant yapping of the small balcony dwelling canines in his apartment building. The film has a distinct mundane pace but is stacked with commentary for the keen observer and tells us that no there might be no such thing as karma in this indifferent world we’ve built for ourselves. Korean language with English subtitles.

Credits

Regie: Bong Joon-ho
Cast: Lee Sung-jae, Bae Doona, Byun Hee-bong, Kim Ho-jung
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Speelduur: 110 minuten
Land: Zuid-Korea
Taal: Koreaans
Ondertiteling: Engels

Storyline

An idle part-time college lecturer is annoyed by the yapping sound of a nearby dog. He decides to take drastic action.

We’re pretty confident in stating that Bong Joon Ho is a Rotterdam man at heart. Since his debut full-length feature, the Korean maverick director has premiered most of his films at IFFR and even when Oscar immortality was upon him in 2020, Bong somehow found the time to host a masterclass in our fair city. With two films in the making – his much anticipated sci-fi Mickey17 and an animated feature both set for 2025 releases, we are very excited to announce that we’re screening all but one of his films (Okja is not available for theatrical exhibition) this summer.

We are ecstatic that three time Oscar winner Bong Joon-ho took the time between finishing two(!) new projects to chat with us about his films and his love for cinema. We kick off here with Bong’s salute to the KINO audience, but you can catch other segments of the conversation in our cinema preceding the upcoming screenings.