For as obsessed with the practice as they are, it's a real wonder why there aren't more films about Koreans' standards of beauty and plastic surgery. Having already been briefly touched upon before in films like “Cinderella” that offers a more traditional ghost-movie aesthetic to the process, Swedish director Josh Hoffman attempts to tackle a myriad of more global issues with the concept in his new feature “Under the Knife” which is now available on various streaming services.
Obsessing over her looks, Korean-American Beverly (Kim Jyeong-ah) starts to irritate her boyfriend Cosmo (Matt Pavlovich) about her desires to fix her seemingly ordinary appearance. When an opportunity presents itself, she decides to visit her cousin Bo-mi (Rydia Kim) in Korea and decides to use that as an excuse to also get the desired nose job surgery that she's always wanted. Arriving at a sketchy clinic run by Dr. P (Kim Jin-geun), she goes through with the procedure and decides to celebrate by taking a small relaxing vacation to a nearby city to rest from the procedure, but when she's confronted with strange visions and other physical ailments, she comes to find that the surgeon implanted a strange deice in her that enables him to control her to kill and sets out to stop it from happening.
Overall, “Under the Knife” has a lot to like about it. Among the best features here is the setup from writer/director Hoffman that touches incredibly heavily on the concept of a woman's standards of beauty. The early part of the film with Beverly trying to explain the thought process behind wanting surgery to fix her appearance offers a pointed series of commentary on the issue. Not only is the boyfriend offering points against by saying that extreme reactions are potentially problematic but also Bo-mi touching on unrealistic standards from the media is a great counterpoint to everything. The constant attempts from both to try to talk her out of the surgery, with their pointing out the hypocrisy in the state of the world about the issue offers a nice grounding point for the genre qualities to emerge from. That there's a pointed lack of argumentative points from Beverly about the benefits compared to both of their arguments against it make the upcoming genre thrills that much more worthwhile.
With this in place, the horror that unfolds in “Under the Knife” is obvious but no less effective. The sketchy clinic where she receives the operation has all the hallmarks of a place to be avoided, with no staff, a hole-in-the-wall main location, and the procedure being done the next day after the consultation. Moreover, the rushed nature of their meeting reeks of trying to pressure a reluctant patient into getting something they shouldn't need, like a master sleazy salesman completes the series of red flags that are ignored and the surgery can proceed. This offers a couple of fun scenes here with the attacks of her and the other patients he's operated on attacking and brutally killing those around them in brutal fashion. As well, the flashes of bizarre and avant-garde imagery that are used to highlight the mind-control tactics generate some trippy visuals as well, making for a lot to like.
While there are some positive aspects, “Under the Knife” does have some stumbling blocks. Among the major ones is the decidedly off-kilter pacing established by Hoffman that focuses on areas of disinterest for far too long. A series of back-and-forth conversations between Beverly and Bo-mi about the differences in their culture tend to be quite dull and not as interesting as their surgical issues are and just feel like excess padding. Beverly's trip through the city is also a major problem, focusing on decidedly uninteresting travelogue-style scenes just wandering around the city looking at various tourists spots and attractions with bland rock music in the background for way too long before anything happens. In general, this causes the film to take until near the hour mark to really start on its main story which makes for a somewhat slow start. With some limitations from the low-budget on display also holding it back, these issues are what keep this down.
With some likable factors and some flaws present that holds it back, “Under the Knife” is a rather fun time for those that appreciate this kind of genre effort despite having some issues. Viewers who have enough interest in the indie-style approach taken here will have the most to like here.
