David O'ConnellTell Me Something
August 20th 2008 02:50
This excellent, gloomy crime thriller from South Korea appears like innumerable serial killer films produced in the last decade or more on the surface, but like most things now reaching our shores from that country it has enough depth of characterization and a masterly visual style to easily distinguish it from Hollywood’s run-of-the-mill productions. In fact you may end up with a headache trying to piece it all together in the end!
I hadn’t heard of Chang Yoon-Hyun’s 1999 film but was pleasantly surprised that after a gory, generic beginning with an unknown man slicing a body into parts, the film would develop into a riveting, noirish manhunt.
Han Suk-kyu plays Inspector Cho who is under suspicion for allowing a criminal to pay for his dying mother’s hospital bills, and seems to have made a few enemies along the way. Curiously these matters aren’t dealt with beyond the early scenes, nor his mother’s death, other than in a simple ceremonial scene, as body parts are soon being discovered all over Seoul in plastic bags.
The perplexing thing is that the parts are from different victims, the killer mixing limbs whilst holding back other pieces of the puzzle, their place of discovery a potential clue to the next victim.
Through their investigations Cho and his partner, the sympathetic, peanut-munching Detective Oh (Jang Hang-Seon), discover that they have 3 victims on their hands and they happen to be the past three love interests of an enigmatic museum curator and former artist Chae (Shim Eun-ha) who seems to be withholding some important details which may be vital clues to the killer’s identity.
She also has a strange relationship with her best friend and neighbour, her ostracized famous father who she hasn’t seen in years, and another young man – a possible love interest who seems to have been stalking her in a sense for years.
There are plenty of red herrings and twists before the complex resolution is reached, with a couple of classic tension-filled scenes along the way. Cho and Chae develop a bond of sorts too and their ties are the ones we emotionally invest ourselves in.
Chang’s film is startling to look at but that’s hardly unexpected for anyone who has been following the rise of Korean cinema over the past decade – their attention to detail and aesthetic sense are their strongest attributes and this film is always visually interesting, in both day and night scenes, capturing the rain-soaked gloom of the city, similar to that of David Fincher’s vision for Seven, an obvious influence.
Cho is an interesting enough main character and Han Suk-kyu plays him with a bleak intensity, the director wisely never dwelling on his personal turmoil to elicit sympathy - he earns that over the course of the film with his strong presence and relationship with his partner and Chae.
Chang has a wicked sense of black humour too - in the goriest sense - with a couple of darkly memorable scenes depicting how the body parts in their garbage bags are discovered; there’s one especially good set piece on a highway as a massive pile-up ensues amidst a massive spray of blood and gore!
Any fan of Korean cinema will be further impressed by this unexpected surprise; although admittedly conventional on the surface, it has enough nuance in the screenplay to keep you entertained and guessing right to the very end - and even afterwards!
I hadn’t heard of Chang Yoon-Hyun’s 1999 film but was pleasantly surprised that after a gory, generic beginning with an unknown man slicing a body into parts, the film would develop into a riveting, noirish manhunt.
Han Suk-kyu plays Inspector Cho who is under suspicion for allowing a criminal to pay for his dying mother’s hospital bills, and seems to have made a few enemies along the way. Curiously these matters aren’t dealt with beyond the early scenes, nor his mother’s death, other than in a simple ceremonial scene, as body parts are soon being discovered all over Seoul in plastic bags.
The perplexing thing is that the parts are from different victims, the killer mixing limbs whilst holding back other pieces of the puzzle, their place of discovery a potential clue to the next victim.
Through their investigations Cho and his partner, the sympathetic, peanut-munching Detective Oh (Jang Hang-Seon), discover that they have 3 victims on their hands and they happen to be the past three love interests of an enigmatic museum curator and former artist Chae (Shim Eun-ha) who seems to be withholding some important details which may be vital clues to the killer’s identity.
Cho questions the reluctant Chae
She also has a strange relationship with her best friend and neighbour, her ostracized famous father who she hasn’t seen in years, and another young man – a possible love interest who seems to have been stalking her in a sense for years.
There are plenty of red herrings and twists before the complex resolution is reached, with a couple of classic tension-filled scenes along the way. Cho and Chae develop a bond of sorts too and their ties are the ones we emotionally invest ourselves in.
Chang’s film is startling to look at but that’s hardly unexpected for anyone who has been following the rise of Korean cinema over the past decade – their attention to detail and aesthetic sense are their strongest attributes and this film is always visually interesting, in both day and night scenes, capturing the rain-soaked gloom of the city, similar to that of David Fincher’s vision for Seven, an obvious influence.
Shim Eun-ha as Chae
Cho is an interesting enough main character and Han Suk-kyu plays him with a bleak intensity, the director wisely never dwelling on his personal turmoil to elicit sympathy - he earns that over the course of the film with his strong presence and relationship with his partner and Chae.
Chang has a wicked sense of black humour too - in the goriest sense - with a couple of darkly memorable scenes depicting how the body parts in their garbage bags are discovered; there’s one especially good set piece on a highway as a massive pile-up ensues amidst a massive spray of blood and gore!
Any fan of Korean cinema will be further impressed by this unexpected surprise; although admittedly conventional on the surface, it has enough nuance in the screenplay to keep you entertained and guessing right to the very end - and even afterwards!
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Comment by Cibbuano
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Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
But this one is definitely a cut above most of them.