O Internato: Condenadas ao Silêncio

As someone who knows next to nothing about what makes a movie "good" and has no standards, I liked this movie. It certainly wasn't "horror", but it had good twists and the ending made me cry because I'm a baby who cries about everything. It was all very well acted and good enough (for me) to watch like 3 times. If you too have low movie standards, you'll probably enjoy this.

You can ask yourself many things with this. From morality (to mortality I guess), to group dynamics, to children with bad influences to bullying. Of course it's not that the movie points everything out, or spells everything out. Also for a movie playing mostly inside a building, this is very "far out"! There are some pretty strange things going on and by the end of it you will catch up.

Of course, the end will split a lot of people. Because while we are aware this is nothing ordinary, what we get to see is way extra ordinary. Is that something the movie can pull off? I'd say more no than yes, but it depends on the viewer. It's well done overall and it can be a pleasant watch, if you let it

The Silenced, or the title literally translated as "The Lost Girls" have all setups you want to see in a mystery boarding school/orphanage movies. It includes mysterious rules, secret room, long dark halls, and confused school girls. This movie set in Japanese occupation era in Korea, where an all-girls sanatorium/boarding school to prepare them to go to Tokyo for a scholarship while recovering their physical health. But, little did a sickly girl who are new in the house, students are missing one by one.

While all seems perfect and I am ready to love this, I encounter myself in a confusing situation where I can't differentiate all of the students' faces. They wear uniform, they share same hairstyle, quite same body type, and I am trying enough to focus on their facial features to determine who's who and I give up and only knows who is she after her name is mentioned. Although this is very subjective and minor to the whole movie, I feel this situation withdraw me to join the buildups to the climax. But ... only if the buildups are good.

Another problem is, I think the movie is too dragging to explain or showing something. It's good at first because we have some bases to know what you may expect in terms of gore/jumpscares/violence you may encounter in the movie, but some depictions (like the main character having treatment in bed) happens for at least five times without any major development. It makes me difficult to follow the narration and to build the anticipation to the climax.

When the climax is happening, I was quite entertained, but it's too stale after watching many buildups, so it just felt flat. I like it more if the buildups can be more focused on one theme and cut the drama scenes. With lots of conflicts without any sort of increasing tension (and I don't know who's who), it seems that the climax (with quite obvious resolution) can't justify the movie as something worth watching, compared to movies with similar themes.

Even though it's quite low in my perspective, for those who like some glimpses about what's happening in Japanese occupation (although it's probably not quite accurate either), you'll like this one. I, for instance, like how they used Korean and Japanese language interchangeably in the movie to depict what is the status of the language in that era. More than that, I guess you can have yourself a try if you like this kind of movie, but I'm sure it's easy to find another movie that have better buildups, and you can differentiate the actors' faces.

''The Silenced'' is an above average mystery drama from South Korea with a few minor horror elements. The plot takes places during the thirties of the last century when the country was occupied by the Japanese. It follows the story of a teenage girl who is transferred to an isolated boarding school. After her mother's untimely death from tuberculosis, her father and his new wife are scared to get infected by the teenage girl whose medical condition is getting more and more critical. She gets various medical treatments at the boarding school and finally seems to recover step by step and ends up standing out as a promising sportswomen who might get the occasion to go to Tokyo with another girl to represent the small school honourably. However, strange things happen at the isolated boarding school. Some pupils disappear from one day to another without leaving any trace behind. Several students seem to be emotionally unstable and react in overtly aggressive ways in seemingly random situations without being able to recall these events later on. When the protagonist starts having strange visions, she wonders whether they are due to her new medication or whether there is more to it than that. Along with a new friend, she tries to uncover the school's gloomy secrets.

This movie convinces with a mysterious and slightly gloomy atmosphere from start to finish. This is due to the intriguing settings including the isolated boarding school itself, a secret room in the basement and an old forest with a mysterious pond. The authentic traditional costumes, mostly dimmed lighting techniques and the calm and mysterious score add to the gripping atmosphere. Another winning element are the few and cleverly integrated horror parts consisting of strange emotional outbursts of several characters, the protagonist's continuous nightmares and visions and the emotionally and physically brutal conclusion. The movie doesn't have any particular lengths and develops a coherent flow that is slightly slow in the opening twenty minutes, keeps a regular pace most of the time and ends up being a little bit faster in the final twenty minutes.

Even though the numerous young actresses are doing a solid job, there isn't anyone that really stands out. Most characters are slightly too exchangeable, pale and shy to get the audience emotionally involved with any of them. Despite a mysterious tone throughout the movie, the film reveals too many hints too quickly which leads to a quite predictable story halfway through the movie where the movie loses some momentum. The ending was a little bit too exaggerated, intense and stereotypical to go with the rest of the film. This is one of the rare films where I prefer the smooth, slow and gloomy first part of a film over the more intense, fast paced and engaging second half.

In the end, fans of South Korean cinema, atmospheric mystery movies and smooth teenage dramas should give this interesting mixture of genres a chance. Those who are expecting a truly original plot, outstanding acting performances or a scary horror film should look elsewhere. This is an entertaining movie for a lazy autumn or winter night at home but nothing more.

The Silenced is by no means your ordinary supernatural film featuring teenage students in a school of Victorian setting. Sure, it has the elements above featured in the film. But Director Lee Hae-young bravely mixed and revolutionized them into a horror tale of colonialism. Sadly though, it never reached its potential to stand out and will leave the audience divisive.

Set in 1938 during the Japanese occupation in Korea, a sick young girl named Ju-ran/Shizuko (Park Bo-young) is transferred into a girls' boarding school that is disguised as a sanitorium to recover her health. Through its tame opening, there's an eerie and creepy atmosphere as we follow Ju-ran entering the boarding school. When Ju-ran arrives, the film successfully distinguishes itself from typical boarding school horror films. All of these kids look fine. There's no signs of supernatural being in the school. But the chills that I got tell my senses that something's wrong and glued my eyes to the screen.

As Ju-ran settled, the film seems more straight to a slow drama where she bonds with her new friend Yeon-deok (Park So-dam) and tries to adapt to her new environment. However, Lee Hae-young smartly inserts some disturbing moments and behaviors from Ju-ran surroundings that reminding us this is still a horror film. Those moments are greatly balanced with the drama of Ju-ran and Yeon-deok's bonding and made the first act a pleasant time to watch.

Slowly, however, Ju-ran started to sense something is wrong with the school from her friends and teachers as well as her treatment. I really appreciate how Hae-young decided to not approach the films with typical jump scares, but rather, with slow-burning atmosphere building to terrorize the audience. This is achieved through most of the supporting cast performances that make the audience experience spine-chills and how the abnormal moments are inserted in unexpected places. Unfortunately, these potentials are never achieved as the film second-act being too slow, dwindling anywhere without moving the story forward added with its beautiful yet misplaced music cues that lose the film tension.

Still, even when the story didn't move forward, the character did develop and there's still an emotional attachment that audience could relate to. I personally love on how Ju-ran changes not only from her health but socially as she became braver to interact with others and her speech being more fluent. Park Bo-young, who's performance is popular from A Werewolf Boy (2012), shows more range of talent in this film. The breakthrough are from Park So-dam though, who already attracts me from its charming aura yet a cool demeanor that is so similar from Parasite (2019). Praise also needs to be given to the production team and cinematographer Kim Il-Yeon that beautifully captures the visuals, making the film bearable to watch even with its flaws.

The audience might be divided on how the mystery was resolved. As I mentioned several times above, this is by no means a typical Victorian horror. There's a social context mix with a history of colonialism that truly creates a horrifying moment for those who could relate. However, for those that don't, the revelation could be off-putting and the third act could appear to be ridiculous and over-the-top. Personally, I did felt the latter but I can't deny that I enjoy it and still have sympathy for all of the characters thanks to its strong development in scriptwriting.

The film is a mix-bag. However, if you're bored watching typical horror films and try to find a slow-burning terror with great characters and cinematography, then The Silenced might be a recommended choice for you.