H

The brilliance of this film does not lie in its basic thriller plot nor its characters (The characters are not terribly interesting, but the film does not dwell long on their personal lives; The serial-killer plot, while over-used, is paced enough to keep interest.)

Truly, the one reason to watch this film is for the fact that everything--- every action, every line spoken--- leads up to the conclusion. This movie is so perfectly woven that there is not a hair, so to speak, out of place! How few movies are like this one!

Basically, if you want a good story, read a book. If you want a well done film, watch "H".

H

I am a huge fan of the Korean serial killer drama Tell me something. So when the review on the box of this movie said `tell me something esque' I thought I would give it a shot. My history with Korean films are hit or miss. This is a miss. I will say this the plot twist is something you would never see in American film. Of course you would also never see it in reality either.

The film is paced so boring. Maybe the moody feeling just doesn't translate but I think the film was going for the SEVEN moody feeling. The camera work was somewhat interesting. The gore was there. The acting was so so. In the end I kinda had to force myself to finish it.

I would say if you have a choice get `tell me something' instead.

H is another of those moody Korean movies that moves at a deliberately slow pace. This measured approach to story-telling can sometimes add to the atmosphere of a strong well-told tale but, in this instance, it simply draws attention to numerous deficiencies in both plot and characterisation.

A couple of mismatched cops investigate a complex case involving a serial killer who targets pregnant women or women connected with abortions in some way. The murders are copies of those carried out by a man ten months earlier who gave himself up and now awaits execution. The cops initially suspect the original killer has hired someone to carry out the killings but, when they have caught the person they believe to be the murderer and the killings continue, a much less straightforward answer becomes apparent.

The Koreans seem to have a thing for slow and thoughtful movies, and there's nothing wrong with that if the storyline is strong, but this film borrows from too many other films – most notably Silence of the Lambs and Seven – to bolster a fairly thin yet paradoxically complicated plot. Strong on visuals – especially some extreme gore – there are a number of effective and well-staged scenes in H but it relies too much on a brooding heroine who betrays no emotion, and an excitable hero who would quite frankly be a liability in any police investigation. In fact the pair of them overlook obvious lines of investigation and generally stumble upon clues through luck or by drawing obscure – but accurate – conclusions from the vaguest of clues. Seung-woo Cheu makes a curiously uncharismatic villain in a role clearly modelled on Hannibal Lecter, and spouts enigmatic mumbo-jumbo about blue skies and an abyss that probably made no sense before its meaning was mangled by the translators responsible for some truly excruciating subtitles. And for all the moody atmospherics from first-time writer/director Jong-hyuk Lee, the film is almost completely devoid of any tension or suspense.

There are many exciting and inventive films coming out of South Korea these days, but unfortunately H isn't one of them. Of course that doesn't mean we won't be seeing an American remake within a year or two

Ten months after the imprisonment of serial killer Shin Hyun (Seung-woo Cho), who gave himself up to the police after brutally murdering six women, a copycat murderer begins to replicate his grisly crimes. Detectives Kim Mi Yun (Jung-ah Yum) and Kang Tae Hyun (Jin-hee Ji) are assigned to the case, and after interviewing Shin Hyun, begin to suspect that he has somehow masterminded the killings from behind bars.

Directed by Jong-hyuk Lee, Korean thriller H is, rather ironically, something of a copycat itself, being a little bit Silence of the Lambs and a little bit Seven, but nowhere near as good as either film: the plot is a little too convoluted and confusing at times, the pacing way too slow, and the inevitable twist nowhere near clever (or believable) enough. In an effort to make his film as stylish as those he is trying to emulate, director Lee throws in endless rain-drenched scenes and moody shots of his cops smoking, but even though his film looks good throughout, it fails thanks to its leaden storytelling, a lack of tension and originality, and an ending that beggars belief.

On the whole, I enjoyed this film. It starts out with a series of nice, gruesome post-mortem and death scenes, and carries the creepy ambiance most of the way through. Unfortunately, as the twists begin to unravel, so does the quality of the film.

For the sake of those who haven't seen the film, I won't spoil any of the myriad twists, but I will say that you better pay very close attention to this film or you'll miss some illuminating plot points, as I did.

Unfortunately, this has to do with the number of suspects/characters in the film, and the difficulty an American viewer will have keeping all the names separate. Characters are often referred to by name without being on screen (as is the nature of a police thriller), and I found myself, more often than not, seeing said names and thinking, "wait, which one is he?" Still, I doubt I'd have had the problem if the characters in question were more than just your standard serial murder movie cutouts. I watch a lot of Korean cinema, and this is the first time I've ever had this problem.

This speaks to the general quality of the film which, while engaging, is certainly not going to stun most viewers with its artistry. The acting is passable (at best), the writing is sparse and convoluted (though not devoid of entertainment value, to be sure), and the editing is flat-out terrible. That's not something that usually stands out for me in a film, but in this case it was a flagrant issue with the film. You'll find yourselves following the characters to a raid on a suspect's house only to forget why this guy was a suspect in the first place, and random cuts to side characters doing sweet F.A. don't do much to ease the difficulty of following the bouncing (murder)ball.

There are two kinds of "end of the movie twists" out there. There's the "Oh my god, I didn't see that coming, but I should've" twists, and then there are the "uh...what?" twists. Sadly, the final revelation of this film is one of the latter. I've seen debate on the message boards regarding the supposed "final, final twist," but I have to say that it's a pretty loose interpretation to call the final moments of the film yet another twist. It's more of a "book-end," and effective as such.

Where this film fails most is in the expectations it builds. It's an excellent concept for a serial murderer flick, and they spend a lot of time building an interesting emotional landscape that's inevitably forsaken for gimmicky plot devices that, while not wholly unbelievable (though highly improbable), are pretty much just plain silly. Had they stuck with the emotional and psychological themes and forsaken the twists, this would be an excellent film.

As it stands, it is not excellent, but it's certainly not terrible. If you're a fan of Asian thrillers, you could do worse than this one.

-J