The Taste of Money (2012)

The Taste of Money is the kind of glossy, dangerous drama that doesn’t just show you wealth—it makes you feel its seduction and its rot, in images so lush you almost forget how poisonous the air is. Im Sang-soo stages this world like a decadent ballroom where every smile is a threat, and the camera lingers on polished surfaces that can’t hide the grime underneath, turning corporate privilege into something eerily intimate. Kim Kang-woo’s wide-eyed errand man becomes our uneasy guide through a maze of power, sex, and surveillance, while Youn Yuh-jung and Baek Yoon-sik embody a ruling class so confident in its impunity it becomes mesmerizing to watch. It’s not for the squeamish—there’s harsh violence and heavy adult content—but if you can handle its intensity, it’s a stylish, melodramatic plunge into the appetites that money buys and the price everyone pays.

The Taste of Money is aiming for a glossy, poisonous portrait of the ultra-rich, where sex, leverage, and cash are just different currencies, and it does have the nerve to go there. The problem is the story often feels like it’s piling on scandal for the sake of scandal, turning what could be sharp social commentary into a tangled melodrama that starts to feel repetitive rather than revealing. If you’re looking for a tight, insightful take on power and corruption, you may find it shallow and increasingly exhausting as the complications stack up. Still, the performances and sleek, sordid atmosphere can be compelling if you’re in the mood for an adult, lurid cautionary tale with very heavy content and not much subtlety.