Two sisters, the stepmother, a rueful father, a broken heart, a house full of memories. This is the setting of this Korean horror drama also known in the west as A Tale of Two Sisters.
The horror. Typical of any good psychological horror film, the movie is constantly driven by thick atmosphere. And because of this, the few cheap scares that exist in the film turn out very powerful. Be it the good actors, be it the exceptional direction, be it that the film is heavily inspired by Ringu, in any case, this one deserves a place among the genre's finest. One particular scene in fact, is one of the most disturbing unearthly horror scenes I have ever seen.
The drama. Not only does both writer and director Ji-woon Kim manage to keep the viewer's interest throughout an almost two hours long film, not only does he manage to efficiently turn a real life story into a witch-hunt, he does so with bold, audacious, beautiful, limpid artistic expression as well. The after-taste of the puzzle structured storytelling however, is bittersweet. The end credits roll, and while there is an acceptable and nearly satisfying closure, questions remain unanswered and parts of the story remain open to debate or even worse, to speculation. I would have promised that some scenes have been there just for show, had the overall presentation not suggested a certain depth in the story. A depth the spectators may fail to discover in these two hours (I know I did), created by a director who only fails in this film, to motivate them.
This movie is highly recommended!
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