Janghwa, Hongryeon (2003)

In 1999, South Korea's renovated film industry got its first major success with "Swiri", a powerful action movie directed by Je-Gyu Kang which became South Korea's most successful movie in that year and brought worldwide attention to the country's new wave of cinema. Through the following decade, South Korean cinema has grown stronger, in an apparent renaissance that has resulted in a wide variety of high quality movies that show the enormous talent of Korean filmmakers. During this resurgence, Korean horror has also experienced an amazing development, as after being greatly influenced by the successful Japanese horror of the late 90s, it has given the Japanese style of horror stories a noticeable Korean touch, evolving into a style of its own, filled with its own themes and ideologies. Ji-Woon Kim's movie "Janghwa, Hongryeon" is a prime example of this, and a film that joins "Swiri" and "Oldboy" as masterpieces of South Korea's cinema.

Known in English as "A Tale of Two Sisters" (although it literally means "Rose Flower, Red Lotus"), "Janghwa, Hongryeon" is the story of Soo-mi (Su-Jeong Lim) and Soo-Yeon (Geun-yeong Mun), two sisters who travel to their family's country house along their father Bae Moo-Hyeon (Kap-Su Kim) after having spent time in a mental institution after their mother's death. At home, they meet their father's young new wife, Eun-Joo (Jung-ah Yum), but while she tries to act friendly and helpful to the girls, it is clear that she feels a lot of resentment towards them and starts to abuse of Soo-Yeon both physically and psychologically, taking advantage of her shyness and weakness. This only increases Soo-mi's hate towards her stepmother, and decides to fight back and protect Soo-Yeon; however, there is something else in the house that haunts Soo-mi's dreams.

Written by director Ji-Woon Kim himself, "Janghwa, Hongryeon" is loosely based on a famous Korean folktale of the same name that also deals with the difficult relationship between two sisters and their stepmother. However, this is not a direct adaptation, as Ji-Woon Kim has only used it as a basis to create a powerful character study that mixes horror, suspense and psychological drama in a cleverly devised plot that certainly offers more than the usual horror film. By focusing on Soo-mi's complex relationships with her family, Ji-Woon Kim explores themes of resentment, angst, guilt and loyalty with an eerie subtlety and great skill. Ji-Woon Kim's detailed development of his characters is also another of the story's strongest points, as it not only makes them truly believable, but also enhances the tense atmosphere between them, and the horrors that result from it.

Using an elegant and classy Gothic style adapted to its modern setting, Ji-Woon Kim makes his story come to life in a wonderful fashion, giving it a haunting ominous atmosphere that often seems to mimic the tense relations between the members of the Bae family. While the influence from Japanes horror seems obvious a couple of times, in "Janghwa, Hongryeon" the director takes the psychological aspects of the J-Horror style one step beyond and delivers a subtly ambiguous tale of horror, closer in spirit to Jack Clayton's "The Innocents" than to Hideo Nakata's "Ringu", as Ji-Woon Kim bases his movie more around the interactions between the characters than around the supernatural events that take place in the house. Considering this last element, Kim's directing of his cast becomes essential for the film's success and, being a former theater director, he doesn't disappoint.

While Ji-Woon Kim is famous for his stylish visual design, in "Janghwa, Hongryeon" he also displays his talent to direct actors, as he manages to get amazing performances from everyone in the cast. As Soo-mi, Su-Jeong Lim is pretty good, very natural as the strongest of the Bae sisters, completely determined to protect her sister. As Soo-Yeon, the weakest of the two, Geun-Yeong Mun delivers an impressive performance conveying a powerful image of fragility and shyness that contrasts perfectly with Soo-mi's more rebel nature. However, and while Mun's performance is certainly amazing, the highlight of the film is definitely Jung-ah Yum, who plays the sisters' cruel stepmother Eun-Joo. Yum is simply mesmerizing, and gives her apparently simple character a whole new dimension. While his role is considerably smaller, Kap-Su Kim delivers a subtle yet very good performance as the sisters' father.

A remarkably well constructed story of suspense, horror and psychological drama, "Janghwa, Hongryeon" is one of the best movies that has came out of the New Wave of Korean cinema. However, while essentially build around a ghost story, "Janghwa, Hongryeon" offers a higher complexity in its construction that may come as too difficult to get at first, as Ji-Woon Kim crafts his movie as a demanding puzzle without many clues for its solution. This is not exactly a bad thing, as challenging movies often result in great rewarding experiences, however, those expecting a more typical tale of Asian ghosts may find the movie a bit too complex for its own sake. Despite that, "Janghwa, Hongryeon" is a beautifully crafted movie that offers an interesting character study spiced up by a haunting atmosphere of dread that will definitely please fans of Gothic horror.

Those expecting another typical clone of J-Horror will be pleasantly surprised by "Janghwa, Hongryeon", as it truly adds a whole new dimension to the style of horror that the Japanese filmmakers devised in the late 90s. In fact, it could be said that modern Korean horror is a direct evolution of the Japanese style of horror. After decades of censorship, financial troubles and low production, cinema of South Korea is entering a new "Golden Age", and Ji-Woon Kim's "Janghwa, Hongryeon" proves that the horror genre plays an important role in that.

9/10

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Gwoemul (2006)

Since the late 90s, cinema of South Korea has been experiencing an exiting resurgence that seems to point out to a second "Golden Age" in the near future, as not only the production of films in the Asian country has increased enormously, it is also reaching worldwide audiences thanks to the high quality of their craftsmanship and the special sensibility of this new Korean style. Of course, the horror genre is not exempt of this resurgence, as modern South Korean horror films have had a notable evolution from having a marked influence of 90s Japanese horror films ("Ringu" for example) to having a style and personality of their own, as movies like "Janghwa, Hongryeon" ("A Tale of Two Sisters") prove. Director Joon-ho Bong's "Gwoemul" is another testament of that growth, as it takes the old sub-genre of "monster films" and gives it a very unique and fresh spin.

"Gwoemul" (literally "Monster"), tells the story of the Parks, a very dysfunctional family of underachievers that is brought together by a strange tragedy that takes place in Han river. Park Gang-Du (Kang-ho Song) and his father Hie-bong (Hie-bong Byeon) are the owners of a little snack near the Han river, which is the source of income for them and Gang-Du's young daughter, Hyun-seo (Ah-sung Ko). One day, a large aquatic monster emerges from the river and begins to attack and eat the people near the shore. Without knowing this, Hyun-seo gets out of the snack bar, only to be dragged by the monster into the river as her father fails to save her. At the funeral, Gang-Du's siblings Nam-il (Hae-il Park) and Nam-Loo (Du-na Bae) show up to mourn their niece, but later that night, a phone call from Hyun-seo convinces the family that she is still alive. Now they only have to work together to save her.

A mixture of horror, black comedy and sci-i, "Gwoemul" was written by director Joon-ho Bong with the collaboration of Chul-Hyun Baek and Won-jun Ha, whom imaginatively reinvent the often overlooked sub-genre of giant monster movies with truly remarkable results. Like classics such as "King Kong", "Gojira" and "Them!" did in the past, "Gwoemul" uses its monster to explore deeper themes beyond the movie's action scenes. One of these themes is definitely the family, as the story is basically about the attempt of this highly dysfunctional family to stay together, work together, and save one of its members. The development of the character's relationships is remarkable, and the writers succeed in making them realistic and human despite the fantasy of the plot. Toying with black comedy and horror, there's also a not so subtle jab at the inability of governments to solve problems.

Director Joon-ho Bong makes everything come together with great skill, carefully toying with the genres without falling in cheap sentimentalism or plain silliness. It's hard to make a comedy about a tragedy (let alone one about a giant monster), but Joon-ho Bong succeeds in moving between genres with enough subtlety to give "Gwoemul" a heart that many films these days lack. However, what truly makes "Gwoemul" shine is probably the fact that Joon-ho Bong knows that while deep and a tad ambitious, his film is still a big monster movie at heart, and so he never betrays the genre with false pretensions. With Hyung-ku Kim's beautiful cinematography and the excellent visual effects by The Orphanage, Joon-ho Bong makes a series of action and horror scenes with one of the most formidable monsters that have graced the screen in the last years.

However, not everything in "Gwoemul" is about the monster, as being a study abut family, the cast is about as important as any special effect in the film. As Gang-Du, Kang-ho Song is very effective, portraying with great talent the excessive humanity of this dimwitted but lovable man. The highlight of the film is definitely Hie-bong Byen, who plays the head of the Park family with great talent, adding a sense of dignity to his character and practically stealing every scene he is in. Hae-il Park plays Gang-Du brother Nam-il, and he is very good as the always complaining young man who is unable to find a job. As their sister Nam-Joo, Du-na Bae adds balance to the cast, although certainly her role (like Hae-il Park's) is not really big. Finally, Ah-sung Ko delivers what's probably the film's best performance after Hie-bong Byen's.

It's really difficult to mix so many genres and succeed in the attempt, as it's quite easy to lose the focus and ultimately the point the movie is trying to make. Fortunately, Joon-ho Bong manages to come up victorious in this effort, and successfully makes everything work without many sacrifices (although that's doesn't mean the story is free of plot holes). However, it's easy to understand why those expecting a straightforward monster movie may feel a bit disenchanted, as the family drama that makes the heart of the film may feel out of place for those expecting nothing more than multiple scenes of man-eating monsters (although there's plenty of that too); and on the opposite side, those expecting a campy and lighthearted kind of comedy may find themselves confused by the dark nature of the film's humor.

Anyways, to those willing to accept that monster movies can have a heart, "Gwoemul" will feel like a breath of fresh air for the horror genre. While the mishmash of genres may be confusing at first sight, "Gwoemul" is an enjoyable movie that once again proves that the future of horror is no longer in Japan, it's now in South Korea.

9/10

Buy "Gwoemul" (2006)