IMDb RATING
6.8/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
THE TRUTH BENEATH follows a mysterious 15-day scandal of a politician and his wife as their daughter goes missing just before the national elections.THE TRUTH BENEATH follows a mysterious 15-day scandal of a politician and his wife as their daughter goes missing just before the national elections.THE TRUTH BENEATH follows a mysterious 15-day scandal of a politician and his wife as their daughter goes missing just before the national elections.
- Awards
- 11 wins & 4 nominations total
Featured reviews
Love the plot, storytelling, character developement and the climax was so shocking. Love how lee kyoung mi built the story from the beginning, besides the great cinematography. And Love Son ye jin n Kim joo hyuk chemistry, specially Kim so hee acting. Great movie, although its not as popular as Train to busan and The Wailing but its worth to watch indeed!!.
What worked:
The overall watch was pleasantly surprised. The movie had it's moments. It's not a fast paced thriller , it's articulated slowly but softly making the experience satisfying. At times, the movie is overwhelming and sometimes it's a plain movie based on politics. Once the stage is set, the movie keeps its momentum and thrills us with an engaging and surprising series of events. We can say it's a well written and executed piece of cinema
What did not work: The though that I had while watching the first half of the movie is why is the movie running low on its intensity and the needed boost. If it was me, I would have expected the first half an thrilling and suspenseful ride in much bigger and overwhelming fashion. Although we have other agenda in the plate during this time, but it would have been much better if it was handled as equally as the second half in terms of the mood and the climate Final verdict: recommended
What did not work: The though that I had while watching the first half of the movie is why is the movie running low on its intensity and the needed boost. If it was me, I would have expected the first half an thrilling and suspenseful ride in much bigger and overwhelming fashion. Although we have other agenda in the plate during this time, but it would have been much better if it was handled as equally as the second half in terms of the mood and the climate Final verdict: recommended
The Truth Beneath Directed by Lee Kyoung Mi Lee got her start in films working with Park Chan-wook and from watching this film it seems she has taken his lead when it comes to violent revenge. When a Politician's daughter goes missing the scandal threatens to upset his ambitions for an important election. We soon learn that relationships between mother and daughter are not so great when Min-jin lies about who she is doing her homework with.
Rather than begin an investigation, Jong-chan is more concerned with winning the election. It's left to her mother Yeon-cheong to look for her daughter. Things take a tragic turn when her daughter's body is discovered dumped in woodlands. How much more can I tell you without spoiling it? Getting to the truth of the events takes the mother on a nightmarish journey where she must distinguish the truth from lies. After the first twenty minutes, in which the political candidates were introduced by way of flashing subtitles on the screen, I was totally absorbed by this film.
In flash-backs, we see how the relationship between Min-jin and Mi-OK. What was interesting was the way the girls' relationship was affected by the corrupt adult world. For example, Min-OK's noticeably poorer father works as a driver for Min-jin's father, and we were given a sense of how much poorer her family was when we saw she was living in a one room building, stepping over her sleeping family when she needed to leave in the middle of the night.
I didn't count a shot lasting longer than twenty seconds; truly a feverishly edited film. Indeed, it was so intense that I watched rooted to my seat, sometimes hardly believing what I was watching.
It showed as well that for all its recent modern developments, there are still many traces of the Chung-hee dictatorship in present-day Korea. Witness the schoolgirls who stay behind to clean the classrooms every day, and the name badges that every pupil must wear. Then, there is the cruelty and violence of relationships, where love can be used as a weapon. It's a thoroughly unsentimental film with many scenes of terrible violence. It's not a film that casts a good light on Korean society, but I'm glad I watched it nevertheless.
Rather than begin an investigation, Jong-chan is more concerned with winning the election. It's left to her mother Yeon-cheong to look for her daughter. Things take a tragic turn when her daughter's body is discovered dumped in woodlands. How much more can I tell you without spoiling it? Getting to the truth of the events takes the mother on a nightmarish journey where she must distinguish the truth from lies. After the first twenty minutes, in which the political candidates were introduced by way of flashing subtitles on the screen, I was totally absorbed by this film.
In flash-backs, we see how the relationship between Min-jin and Mi-OK. What was interesting was the way the girls' relationship was affected by the corrupt adult world. For example, Min-OK's noticeably poorer father works as a driver for Min-jin's father, and we were given a sense of how much poorer her family was when we saw she was living in a one room building, stepping over her sleeping family when she needed to leave in the middle of the night.
I didn't count a shot lasting longer than twenty seconds; truly a feverishly edited film. Indeed, it was so intense that I watched rooted to my seat, sometimes hardly believing what I was watching.
It showed as well that for all its recent modern developments, there are still many traces of the Chung-hee dictatorship in present-day Korea. Witness the schoolgirls who stay behind to clean the classrooms every day, and the name badges that every pupil must wear. Then, there is the cruelty and violence of relationships, where love can be used as a weapon. It's a thoroughly unsentimental film with many scenes of terrible violence. It's not a film that casts a good light on Korean society, but I'm glad I watched it nevertheless.
This is a terrific film, never boring. The female lead gave an absolutely terrific performance. She is the mother of this child and has the strength and determination that is riveting to watch. If this wasn't a foreign film I could see her nominated for a best actress.
Without ruining the film, you've read the premise and much of the film is about the mother's indomitable will and spirit to find her daughter and who was responsible for her sudden disappearance. Her determination is unwavering and while there are disturbing truths, she prods on where the police unfortunately have not bothered to pursue for a variety of reasons. If there is a weaker point, i didn't quite grasp the entire reason why that would be the case. But these things do happen.
This is an excellent movie and I highly recommend it to all. As to the tale, it might be just a little bit of a stretch but it's all very reasonably credible and nowhere near what Hollywood tries to pull off and fails. It's not your usual tale you'd expect from Hollywood and Korean films can be a bit dark and often have a bit of a twist, which is what makes them interesting. I cannot even fathom why there is such a low IMDB rating for this film. I can only guess that some don't like subtitles and who are not at all familiar with Korean culture might not appreciate that this is more eastern mentality and that people can actually act like this.
Without ruining the film, you've read the premise and much of the film is about the mother's indomitable will and spirit to find her daughter and who was responsible for her sudden disappearance. Her determination is unwavering and while there are disturbing truths, she prods on where the police unfortunately have not bothered to pursue for a variety of reasons. If there is a weaker point, i didn't quite grasp the entire reason why that would be the case. But these things do happen.
This is an excellent movie and I highly recommend it to all. As to the tale, it might be just a little bit of a stretch but it's all very reasonably credible and nowhere near what Hollywood tries to pull off and fails. It's not your usual tale you'd expect from Hollywood and Korean films can be a bit dark and often have a bit of a twist, which is what makes them interesting. I cannot even fathom why there is such a low IMDB rating for this film. I can only guess that some don't like subtitles and who are not at all familiar with Korean culture might not appreciate that this is more eastern mentality and that people can actually act like this.
A mother try to find her daughter after missing and soon she find out that her daughter killed by someone.
So she started to investigate herself and find the killer... Really mind blowing script... Benchmark for the crime thriller movies.. Excellent dark tone photography looks more interesting to watch.. All castings are acted soo well.. Must must watch movie..!!
So she started to investigate herself and find the killer... Really mind blowing script... Benchmark for the crime thriller movies.. Excellent dark tone photography looks more interesting to watch.. All castings are acted soo well.. Must must watch movie..!!
Did you know
- TriviaSon Ye-Jin and Kim Ju-Hyeok previously starred together in 2008 film "My Wife Got Married."
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- Release date
- Country of origin
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- Also known as
- The Truth Beneath
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross worldwide
- $1,755,561
- Runtime
- 1h 42m(102 min)
- Color
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