Barking Dogs Never Bite

In his debut feature, Bong Joon-ho combines genre premises with realistic characters, helping the story avoid the usual generic developments, which is the basic principle of the director’s oeuvre. The film with detective story-like twists revolves around the main heroine’s attempt to catch the culprit who disposes of barking dogs in her apartment block. By introducing a web of characters tied to the central story the film provides a witty and playful image of the contemporary Korean society and its numerous social problems. At the time of its release, the film did not receive much attention at home but it nevertheless is one of the most original and telling works of the renaissance of Korean cinema.