Janghwa, Hongryeon (A tale of two sisters) - Ji-Woon Kim
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First of all, let me begin by saying that i wasn't planning on making this "review" because i thought this movie doesn't deserve it, but it really bugged me so i just had to say something. This movie is the subject of many debates on imdb ...why? Because of it's one defining characteristic – it's incomprehensible on the first watch. Now, there are many films that require you to watch them again and again so you can understand them better, but the difference here being that this film not only leaves you completely clueless on what's been going on in the past 2 hours but also leaves you very frustrated. Take Donnie Darko for instance, very complex film that requires you to put in a lot of thought into it, but right until the very end you can follow the plot so easily, the end just makes you think on it's repercussions and it's deeper meaning. In "A tale...", the intended purpose of the ending is to try and make sense of what has been going on in the past hour or so.
The film starts off very good, a classic drama about two sisters that come home from the mental institution only to be abused by their stepmother while the father is clueless on the goings on in the house. The object of the stepmothers abuse is mainly the younger sister, whilst the older one is ready to stand up to her and defend the younger one. And this is all fine and dandy, until , some hour in to the movie, it takes a radical turn that made me feel like some other director and scriptwriter stepped in without even knowing what the previous part was about. I like surprises, but ones that actually make sense. Here, it seemed like the director/writer was just thinking " ok, how can i confuse the audience more?" .A David Lynch movie made more sense then this one. I would think that it is the task of the director to make the film an enjoyable experience and also to clarify the ( extremely ) complicated plot to the common viewer. In an attempt to make a radical twist in the film the only thing he accomplishes is to make the movie completely illogical.
For example:
WARNING: "spoiler alert!" spoilers below
If the older sister is actually playing the parts of her stepmother and her sister thus making her a split personality (or a schizophrenic), why does the director insist on filming scenes where all 3 personalities are in 3 separate locations doing 3 different things at the same time ( like when the older sister goes to some shed, whilst the younger one is seen at the house near the bird cage, or when the stepmother is abusing the little sister and locking her in the closet whilst the older sister is asleep and when she rushes to her little sisters bedroom to free her, we see the stepmother grinning and walking in a completely different part of the house....that's simply not the way split personalities or schizophrenia work ). And certain scenes have no purpose whatsoever ( like the one when the wife of the stepmother's brother sees a ghost underneath the sink after throwing a complete fit and having convulsions that were unexplained, or when we see a little girl sitting on the chair behind the stepmother..who is she? What is her purpose? Unexplained. Or the fairly creepy nightmare scene ,the scene in the younger sisters bedroom when someone walks in and scares her, the scene with all the clothes in the closet being the same. All those scenes had no purpose or meaning except to scare you ( which they failed at doing ).
If the older sister is actually playing the parts of her stepmother and her sister thus making her a split personality (or a schizophrenic), why does the director insist on filming scenes where all 3 personalities are in 3 separate locations doing 3 different things at the same time ( like when the older sister goes to some shed, whilst the younger one is seen at the house near the bird cage, or when the stepmother is abusing the little sister and locking her in the closet whilst the older sister is asleep and when she rushes to her little sisters bedroom to free her, we see the stepmother grinning and walking in a completely different part of the house....that's simply not the way split personalities or schizophrenia work ). And certain scenes have no purpose whatsoever ( like the one when the wife of the stepmother's brother sees a ghost underneath the sink after throwing a complete fit and having convulsions that were unexplained, or when we see a little girl sitting on the chair behind the stepmother..who is she? What is her purpose? Unexplained. Or the fairly creepy nightmare scene ,the scene in the younger sisters bedroom when someone walks in and scares her, the scene with all the clothes in the closet being the same. All those scenes had no purpose or meaning except to scare you ( which they failed at doing ).
It seems to me that the director simply didn't know how to tell the story right. Some people really liked it , i thought it was poorly done, well at least the "jigsaw puzzle" way of explaining the story, a bad choice when dealing with a story that is already complicated.
If you want really good horror/thriller films with radical twists in the plot, i suggest you rent the brilliant "Donnie Darko" and "The Others" , if you enjoy films that make no sense, by all means, watch this one. If i wanted to be completely confused and freaked out by the complete lack of logic i would have just dropped some acid and tripped out.
( and i can't believe that my longest review so far was of a movie i didn't enjoy )
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). Wonderful director, i'm looking forward to Samaria.
