Iljun

As horror movies go, this movie may not be terrible but comes close.

The most scary thing about this movie is its poster. The movie depends on sound to actually scare you (explosively loud music/effects when ghosts appear or are about to appear). Lots of inane redundancies and too much holding back of crucial story lines. As a result, when I learned of the supposed "secrets", I couldn't help imagine "so that was it?" Watching the film, I was frequently bored. The plot seemed to be complex, but needlessly so, and apparently so on purpose – an obvious attempt by the filmmakers to camouflage its shallowness in what is now becoming the all-too-hackneyed memory loss shtick. To be fair, there is an interesting twist at the end, in a 5-minute scene that was more interesting than the rest of the movie put together. The brochures and the marketing blitz make much of the fact that there is no blood in the movie. When did this become a virtue? Anyhow, it would have taken blood and a whole lot more (like a real script, instead of a montage of trite visuals) to give this clinker any legs. Unoriginal, uninspired, uninspiring, and unscary. Totally forgettable.

Although a native Korean, I've always been skeptical of Korean movies. They tend to overplay emotions and lack realism. Well, this movie changed my whole outlook - it is a grippingly realistic movie that rips through the storyline. I was spellbound. Set in the highly charged Korean demilitarized zone, it is the tale of a shootout gone wrong, but the movie is much more than just a whodunit. It illustrates quite subtly the delicate North-South emotions that transcends ideologies of the 2 regimes; it really is about characters and their situations, rather than actions. The film also features some beautiful cinematography - the scenes I remember are the tall grass (the minefield incident) and the muted cigarette exchange on top of a snow-covered hill. The latter, particularly, is extremely poignant in its silence. Why are they smoking together? And why do they not speak? The answers to these questions, I guess, are the subjects and emotions that the movie tries to convey. The only flaw I can offer is the clear mis-casting of Lee Young-Ae as the neutral major, but her role in the movie is not central enough (although she does take up quite an amount of air time) to drag down the whole movie. IMHO, I would have used a Korean-European new face in the role. I am sure that it appeals to Koreans more than foreigners, although i'm also sure you can enjoy it without prior knowledge. I recommend this very highly. It's a pity that it's still not out on DVD even after 1 year following its release, and I hope it is released soon so that movie lovers everywhere can appreciate it.