A Letra Escarlate

Not an easy movie to watch, the plot sometimes meanders and feels as though it is heading towards a brick wall. However the intense climate to the movie will leave many viewers walking away head bowed and slightly traumatised by its conclusion.

The movie 'The Scarlet Letter', is one of the many Korean movies that is finding an audience in the west. With Hollywood churning out clone after clone of various genre movies, this Asian invasion could not have come at a better time. It is comforting to know that somewhere creative and challenging cinema is still being produced and distributed.

The story of 'The Scarlet Letter' involves a cop, Ki-Hoon, who whilst investigating a murder re-ignites a fling with his lover. The actual case that he is solving serves more as a backdrop with the main story focusing on the marital paradigmn between the protagonist, his wife and the lover.

The idea of a hardworking cop being torn between his devotions to the one he loves and duty may not seem like the most original premise. Many a cop movie/series has been devoted to such scenarios, movies like Micheal Mann's 'Heat' or 'Leathal Weapon' spring to mind. Yet what raises this movie above the average cop thriller is the frightening way Asian cinema is able to change the mood of a movie from one frame to another.

This is now a hall mark of Asian cinema and is rooted in a tradition whereby genres such as comedy, horror, romance and thrillers can be mixed all together in one movie, take Japanese (Kitano) or Hong Kong (John Woo) cinema as examples. For the last fifteen years Asian cinema has been producing genre defying movies. Korea has now entered into the fray and are producing movies where suspense, romance and terror can be weaved into a narrative and still retain a sense of realism. This is what Hollywood is failing to achieve, with too many Hollywood movies reliant on staple genres and archetype heroes.

After a brief respite Asia is once again paving a way for modern cinema to develop and surprisingly Korea seems to be the next port of call for the attention of the movie loving west.

A difficult movie to watch, but one that is worthy of your attention.

"The Scarlet Letter" hits you hard, and it's all you need to know. Excellent acting and perfect fit into the genre conventions (erotic thriller/drama) carry this movie, and everything else goes on as smoothly as possible.

Nudity ain't there to turn you on and without a reason (which is quite rare, in today's films), but actually fits perfectly into the story beats.

The best part of the movie is of course Lee Eun-ju: what a brilliant actress she was! Her acting in this film is for sure one of the best performances I have ever seen on the screen.

I honestly don't understand the bad reviews: to get a 10 out of 10 is it mandatory to have extremely complicated plots, to have been produced by the best directors of the world, and to have been nominated for a thousand international awards? And also, since a few people complained about the pace, they should probably specify that it doesn't fit their personal taste, because this movie does everything right and more. If you want to watch an erotic thriller/drama, or simply something incredibly good, this is THE movie.

Kudos to one of the best films and one of the best performances (Lee Eun-ju's) ever.

This is one of those films where you can't help but improvise. It has those scenes where you shout out brilliant, but then proceed to make a few alterations to the already produced script to make the thing workable, if not believable.

There are many awful south Korean films out there (for whatever reason, most of them seem to be romantic comedies)-- this is not one of them. Unfortunately this is no "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" or "Sorum" either. There are a handful of brilliant scenes in this film, including one particularly claustrophobic segment that reminded me of a permutation of Tarantino's Kill Bill Volume 2. Unfortunately, these moments are mired in irrelevance, overacting, and implausibility.

By all means, have a drink, take the film in -- but be prepared to throw a huge amount of constructive criticism at your TV. Be prepared to start writing a screen play, maybe take up non-linear editing as a hobby.

An entirely misrepresented film (lesbian cover, Reeeeeeely?) with truly Tarantino level twists bogged down by Desperate Housewives style plot minus the laughs.

First of all, this film's pacing is a mess. Over developed scenes stretch on for a quarter hour while an entire opportunity for a superb subplot is squeezed into 45 seconds.

Moreover, characters are built up steadily only to end up all but irrelevant while important relationships are glossed over.

Furthermore, the cynical poster shot of the two naked women in bed leads to nothing more than a minor footnote in the entire tale...

The token lesbian moment looked quite literally as if it were tacked on just to rake in a few extra sales... Pretty poor showing... Seriously, what the hell were the marketing people thinking? Oh yes, they were probably cynically thinking of sales...

OK, with the bad out of the way...

This film had its glorious moments....

The acting and characterisation were first rate, all the major characters were excellently portrayed with top rank performances. Special props to the portrayal of the detective: equal parts charismatic and total shitbag.

The sound editing was excellent.. Clear vocals with excellent ambience in every scene. Additionally, the classical music score and incidental BGM were without fault.

But best of all, the camerawork and editing: Top notch... The cinematography is some of the best I've seen at this budget level and really played to the strengths of the storyline... Intimate closeups; dreamy, floaty vistas, Jagged, claustrophobic macros.... 10/10 and worthy of note for students of the genre.

And THE SCENE... You'll know it when you watch it: Visceral enough to give Tarantino a hard-on.

All in all, a worthwhile watch.... Just don't go in there for the lesbian scenes.

At first I wasn't sure whether I should watch the movie because of some negative comments, but I decided to give it a try. Bearing in mind that I could always turn it off if I didn't liked it. But I was pleasantly surprised. The story was something I never saw before. Very original. The movie has quite a few twists and surprises that makes sure you are never bored and after every new discovery you want to see how it all turns out.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone I know. And if you are lucky enough to obtain a copy or can buy the DVD, don't hesitate.

8 out of 10.