“Park Chan-Wook won the Best Director award at Cannes for this film. It’s very well deserved.“
Con Nats
4.5 /5 Ledges
South Korea film is hot right now and this Cannes award winning film sees director Park Chan-Wook turn to film noir to weave his style to this age old genre.
Detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) investigates the unsuspicious death of a solitary rock climber. His suspicions are only aroused when he is struck by his wife’s complete lack of grief and her attractiveness. He stakes her out… and slowly falls for the enigmatic Chinese refugee Seo-rae (Tang Wei). Their friendship develops as he learns more about her, until he realises how little he knows. And we’re not yet even through the first act.
The first act could easily have been a film on its own and I’ve seen it done many times before. This film then takes the bold step of asking “What would happen if the femme fatale and the corrupted detective meet up again?”
This is a well established genre that director Park Chan-Wook has taken on and he really has put his stamp of originality upon it. His previous films were big on action and violence, but this is strong on restraint. I like the Korean reserve of their characters. There’s more between the lines and happening within, even for a thriller and Chan-Wook takes us into their heads. Hae-joon imagines being in the same room as his quarry and the director uses split screens for different points of view. The camera work is clever and uses reflections without being obvious and there may be allusions to Hitchcock’s Vertigo, but it’s not overbearing and who hasn’t been influenced by Hitchcock?
The acting is quality and there is chemistry between the leads and I like it when even minor characters, like Hae-joon’s wife, have something more to say. You can tell the actors have fun with it.
The resolution is a little rushed and some details are lost in translation in the race to resolve the complex plot. The length is on the long side but I’m willing to forgive it when it’s this good and the ending is satisfying.
Park Chan-Wook won the Best Director award at Cannes for this film. It’s very well deserved.
Con Nats, On The Screen
