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A TALE OF TWO SISTERS
This Korean film is among the most visually expressive ghost stories you’ll ever experience--and also among the most convoluted and confusing!
The Package
Kim Jee-woon is one of South Korea’s top filmmakers, having debuted with
the highly regarded QUIET FAMILY in 1998 (the basis for Takashi Miike’s THE
HAPPINESS OF THE KATAKURIS) and the equally esteemed FOUL KING in 2000. More
recently he made the film festival sensation THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD
(2008).
2003’s A TALE OF TWO SISTERS (JANGHWA, HONGRYEON) is
Kim Jee-woon’s most successful film by far, and the only one to garner any kind
of significant release in the West. It’s become one of the most acclaimed
K-horror films of recent years, and was
remade by Hollywood in 2009. I’m apparently
the only person who’s not over the moon about the film; I like and admire it,
certainly, but...
The Story
Young Su-mi and her little sister Su-yeon move into their father’s country
house. Unfortunately the place is also inhabited by the girls’ mean stepmother
Eun-ju--and at least one unquiet spirit!
At first Eun-ju seems overly cordial toward the girls. However, she
reveals her true colors when she begins tormenting Su-yeon, against whom she
bears an evident grudge. Eun-ju also acts plenty weird, watching staticy TV
screens and freaking out a nice couple who come to the house to have dinner.
Eventually Eun-ju’s torment of Su-yeon grows downright monstrous. Su-mi
confronts her father with this fact; he reacts by telling her that Eun-ju has
been dead for several years!
Another surprise is in store for Su-mi (and the viewer) when Eun-ju begins
tormenting her...until the latter is confronted by Eun-ju in an entirely
different outfit and attitude. What’s real and what isn’t??
The Direction
This film has a simple enough premise reminiscent of past films like THE
OTHER and FIGHT CLUB, but it’s as complex and multi-layered in its execution as
nearly anything you can think of. Sorting out who’s dead and who isn’t becomes
quite a chore, as does discerning what’s real and what’s not, or even who it is
we’re watching. Sudden viewpoint shifts are common, as are unexplained
flash-forwards. By the end it’s made clear, courtesy of several convoluted
flashbacks, that no less than three central characters--or at least certain
facets of those characters--are actually a single person, and that the facts of
the narrative are quite different from what we’ve been shown. A DVD extra has a
psychiatrist weighing in on the psychological complexities of the film, and I
believe you’ll have to be a psychiatrist to fully sort out what happens.
Where A TALE OF TWO SISTERS works best is as a purely visual and
atmospheric spectacle. The cinematography by Lee Mogae has a seductively dark
shimmer, shunning brightness or excessive contrast. The visuals complement the
spare, quiet aura of the film, which contains very few conventional scares. The
coiled, muted atmosphere put me in mind of a held breath, or possibly a stifled
scream; given the content, I’d say both metaphors are entirely appropriate.
Vital Statistics
A TALE OF TWO SISTERS
iPictures
Director: Kim Jee-woon
Producer: Oh Ki-min
Screenplay: Kim Jee-woon
Cinematography: Lee Mogae
Editing: Ko Im-pyo
Cast: Yeom Jeong-A, Im Soo-jung, Moon Geun-young, Kim Kab-su