The Old Woman with the Knife 4K 2025

Often, when watching a movie, you are genuinely surprised by the plot. That's how it is in “The Old Woman with the Knife.” Imagine, at the center of the story... a sixty-five-year-old (!) active killer who will tear and throw, reining in formidable men! But before you blame the screenwriters, you should know that The Old Woman with the Knife is an adaptation of the popular South Korean novel Pagwa. The book was also published under the title Pension for a Killer. And now the time has come to bring this unique story to the screen. Min Kyu-dong's film was screened at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. It did not win any awards, but nevertheless attracted the attention of viewers.

Of course, if we put aside the natural skepticism about the “inability” of an elderly female hitman, the film arouses considerable curiosity. One might assume that this is a parody of cool action movies, where a feisty granny kicks ass in a hilariously funny performance. But in fact, there is practically no humor in the film, except for some fragmentary light irony. Overall, The Old Woman with the Knife is a stylistically serious film with dramatic plot twists and a philosophical undertone. Formally, it is similar to Martin Campbell's Flashback with Liam Neeson or Michael Keaton's Hitman: The Last Case, also starring Keaton. The heroine here, nicknamed Claw, may not have memory lapses or dementia, but she does have age-related health problems that, according to her doctor, require rest rather than active work. Of course, the killer doesn't listen to the doctor and has no intention of retiring.

The story is structured around alternating between the present day and flashbacks, which gradually reveal both the complex nature of the main character and the motivations of other characters, including a young hitman who, by circumstance, finds himself both Claw's partner and rival. Moreover, there is no doubt about the wild agility of the young hitman while watching the film. The same cannot be said about the veteran of bloodshed, because her hurricane-like fighting skills and vitality are perceived as artistic convention. However, on the other hand, it is not for nothing that colleagues and enemies call her a “legend.” As Kogtya's boss says without joking, she is the company's most valuable resource. Even at sixty-five.

With a large number of violent and dynamic scenes, the main focus is on the drama of the central character, who is experiencing a crisis not of middle age, but of old age. This includes the realization of her own loneliness, the inevitable decline, and the sad realization that she has no personal future ahead of her. It seems that her life has not been lived in vain, fighting “pests” (as the organization likes to call its “targets,” who are, of course, all “bad people”). After all, no one wants to consider themselves bad and longs to believe that all lost souls are true monsters in the flesh. But violence always comes back like a boomerang, from where you least expect it and from those you have long forgotten.

The Old Woman with the Knife is relatively predictable, with a main plot that doesn't capture the imagination, but this is compensated for by a significant number of exciting episodes that are worth watching. At times, the thought occurs that “if the heroine were forty-five, it would all look much more realistic.” On the other hand, Keanu Reeves is almost sixty in the fourth John Wick movie, although he looks younger. So age is a relative drawback of an action story, depending on the perception of the individual viewer.

The bottom line, of course, is that this is a film about old age, the final stage of life, when “it's time to gather stones.” But it is done in a hand-to-hand combat and firearms style, à la “peace is only a dream!” and “we'll rest in the next world!”