“It’s the yawn. The yawn says so much about Ben, the way he doesn’t appear to give much away but has just told you everything. He lets it happen and locks eyes with the camera, no guilt about it but he’s not exactly sneering. It’s just a yawn that says ‘we both know I’m gonna get away with it.’ What is it? Anything he thinks he can get from you.
“Lee Chang-Dong uses Steven Yeun’s movie star magnetism as a smokescreen and a weapon. Somewhere Lee had to know what people expect of a Steven Yeun character. Emotion, bold and bare. Not here. He’s beatific and resigned, calm and sure of himself. He even leaves clues to his crimes lying around to vex his nemesis. He doesn’t care that you know everything about him.
“He yawns, his beautiful eyes twinkle, and the evening continues because no one will stop him because in general nobody stops people like Ben, rich handsome guys who have everything. He seems nice until he’s made you disappear for fun. He may seem like Gatsby, as he’s compared to, but he’s Count Zaroff.
“Yeun’s Mona Lisa smile reads like smugness sometimes and care others. We know he may be evil but we can’t help but want to know more and we’re even a little sorry to think his sociopathic career may come to an end. When he smiles, when he laughs just a little, and when he yawns, his strange charm is incapable of being suppressed. Without him the movie’s engine would never start. The man is a star and finally had a showcase to prove it.” ~ Scout Tafoya
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