The Korean director has done some impressive work such as the original 'Oldboy', 'I'm A Cyborg' and the terrific vampire film 'Thirst'.
From the trailer, the visuals looked stunning and the story looked interesting enough. With the reviews being pretty high, I had high expectations going into the screening.
While there were some strange moments at first, the film started fairly well with an interesting premise. Then there is quite a turn that suddenly changes your feelings to everything you've just seen. As we begin our descent into the final act, it takes another turn. What Park and his team have done is completely flip the genre of the film at least twice. That's quite impressive to do that and still find the whole experience highly engaging.
I flat-out loved the story and its evolution of it. I could study the structure of it for some time. What gives this film so much enjoyment is the twists and turns this story takes. It had me not knowing where they were going next. I don't usually go for analogies. But it was like the story was a massive intricate machine do something that may look ordinary. But the process of it contains lots of little parts eventually coming together as one.
They even made a clever use of the subtitles. It managed to enhance the story. That is certainly a first for me.
If you are thinking about seeing it, I must warn you that there is a fair amount of erotic imagery that is quite the viewing experience. Some people will feel that the scenes were too much and did not fit the tone. I never thought that that was the case. They reminded of similar scenes in 'Blue Is The Warmest Colour' if you needed a comparison.
All the performances were very strong especially by the two female leads Tae-Ri Kim and Min-Hee Kim. They both deserve Oscar nominations. Their characters development had a lot of depth and their presence fitted the haunting Gothic tone. The tension in their relationship was constantly gripping to watch and probably became the films biggest stronghold.
Another highly memorable performance was by Jung-Woo Ha. While he certainly contribute well to the film. This film is all about the ladies.
As expected, the cinematography is fantastic. It is almost fetishly filmed if you can believe that. It manages to be one of the sexiest films I have seen for some time both in both its imagery and cinematography. Every frame looks like a painting and some of the tracking shots make the atmosphere so haunting. The set-designs both interior and exterior are wonderfully crafted and added to the films Gothic tone so well.
There is quite a Hitchcockian feel to it, which was a nice surprise. All that is missing, is a Bernard Hermann score. However, the score itself by Yeong-Wook Jo amplifies the emotions and suspense perfectly. There are many great pieces that are worthy to be listened too on its own.
If I was a reader of this review, I would expect a 9 for its rating. But there were moments that did not work for me. Thankfully, they were only small ones. It is most likely due to the directors style that some small moments just did not connect with me.
However, I think it's safe to say that I had a great time watching this. Its powerful in its themes. It manages to be both beautiful, as well as sexy and haunting. It certainly deserved its almost 2hrs 30mins duration. None of the scenes for me felt lingering.
Chan-Wook Park is certainly a director that I want to see more of, and I hope he keeps making more challenging films. He seems to be succeeding so far.
Rating: 8/10
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