Monday, May 2, 2011

Twenty-fifth. A Tale of Two Sisters by Kim Jee-woon (2003)

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
Director: Kim Jee-woon

Although I was sure that I promised myself that Nang Nak would be the ONLY horror film I'm going to watch this semester, little did I know that A Moon Light Dinner by Yukata Ikejuma (1998) was a horror and erotic film (to my horror, I truly dislike both genres D: ) and it was unavailable therefore I made it up with another horror film, A Tale of Two Sisters. As usual, I'm so timid, but I'm so curious about what the story is like, so I had gathered many of my friends to watch again, and here goes. A heart stopping film...

A tale of two sisters is a Korean psychological horror film directed by Kim Ji-woon. The story started when Su –mi was brought back home from the mental hospital by her father together with her sister Su-yeon and they met their stepmother at home.
Strange things started to occur in the house after the sisters’ return and the stepmother thinks that it is due to the presence of Su-mi and Su-yeon. I feel that the ambience of the movie is perfectly tune to making audiences feel goose bumps throughout the whole movie. Adding on to it, the house also feels ghastly, with the whole house being dark even during the day, and with a lot of dark corners and blind spots.

This movie thoroughly plays with the audiences mind, having numerous unexpected scenes which will give sudden shock to all. Director Kim succeeded in building up the horror of the movie by using eerie sound and numerous unexpected “exposure”, however, I feel that the story can be rather confusing as it hovers around numerous flashbacks and turns of event. Certain parts of the movie leave me scratching head.

However, the last part of the movie did reveal that actually the whole thing about the stepmother and Su-yeon was just her imagination. Su-yeon was dead and I am not very sure, but I would think that the death of Su-yeon is cause by Su-mi.
Overall, the horror element is too overwhelming for me. It's so scary! Sigh, my heart can't take it anymore. But I liked this film although it gives me the creeps and I couldn't sleep for many nights. I think that this is a superb movie for horror freaks. However, one must watch the show carefully, to avoid missing certain portions which may result in leaving you baffled about what is happening. Sadly, I was not watching it carefully as many parts I had my hands over my eyes and only looked that the subtitle from the edge of screen. Fortunately, my friends were there to tell me what had happened. Yay.

[1] A Tale of Two Sisters (2003). Retrieved on 1 May 2011 from http://www.eatmybrains.com/showreview.php?id=53
[2] A Tale of Two Sisters. Retrieved on 1 May 2011 from http://www.snowbloodapple.com/ataleoftwosisters.htm

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