L'ombre du passé

So many loose ends, so many things didnt make any sense. Shame really cause it could have been good. Like didnt someone in charge watch it before it went out? They should have demanded it made sense.

I guess the filmmakers thought that "mystery" movies were supposed to remain a mystery after you got done watching them. About halfway through I lost track of the plot. I still don't get it. I thought the movie was supposed to be about the guy looking for his brother. Was there really a brother? Did he ever find him? Also about halfway through this movie starts to be about the crazy lady. Why? Did she have anything at all to do with the main character or his brother, or did they just decide that the main plot was too boring and bring her in to add interest? I wish someone would explain the plot. You can put "spoiler alert" if you want, but how could anyone spoil this awful movie?

The suspense was fine, as well as the acting. There were some nice little twists now and there and it was not predictable.

Is someone messing with the main character or is he messing with others? Is he losing his mind? Who is the villain and what do they want? Enough to keep you guessing til the very end.

However, it feels like it was meant to be a three hours movie and somehow it got cut into less than hour and a half.

As a result, there are subplots that literally go nowhere, underdeveloped characters and motivations, background stories that never get explored in a meaningful way, very vague hints at something possibly important about the characters and so on.

Haven't seen the original Korean movie yet, but this one kinda makes want to do it in order to place all the missing pieces together.

I'm glad to see that so many of the reviews are echoing the feeling that I had when the movie finally came to an end. I'm still struggling to find the point of the production since, and this is the one positive about the film, it felt like it was building to something interesting - even if it left you disappointed in the end.

I actually came onto IMDB to see if someone had written a synopsis for this (since I clearly missed the point) but see that this hasn't been done - I suspect because, like me, others had trouble making sense of it all.

So he made this movie ................

AKA: See JRM run.

Horror shows are not my thing, but I wanted to see JRM in something besides a Henry VIII cod piece, so I watched this movie. This view-it-once movie.

AND it also has Joe Pantoliano who I always enjoy. PLUS!!! Geoffrey Owens. I think he is one of the best under rated character actors we have.

This movie is a mishmash of stuff that does not mesh (mash) well together at all - it's like a recipe of things that are usually really good, but don't quite fit together in this manner. The only thing I truly enjoyed - besides Joe P and Geoffrey O, were the buildings in NYC. Those were spectacular! Especially the older ones.

All that said - I used it to cleanse my viewing palate of very heavy duty films. And it did the trick! Plus, it was in English, so I wasn't tethered to the TV and could roam around and still keep up with what was happening.

I would say it IS worth the watch - once. Just so you can say you saw JRM sans a cod piece or monk's robe!

PS - Reviewers who comment on actors looks (especially negatively) really need to stop it. IMHO.