Reviews

I won't try and avoid spoilers for this movie because I think the twists in the narrative are an integral part of the movie's idea. The whole movie revolves around two central characters a police detective and the primary suspect for a homicide case that he is working on. The officer slowly becomes infatuated with this suspect. As he observes her as part of his surveillance for the case, he sees in her a certain sadness that resonates with him. The affair is taboo not just because of the lack of professionalism, but because the man is married. Park adds to our discomfort from the stalking by constantly making the officer appear in places where he shouldn't be, while he watches her. For example, when she is smoking a cigarette, he suddenly appears to provide her with an ash tray. This surreal aspect of the movie is not done with a smooth transition that makes you differentiate between imagination and reality. Thus, it is forcefully engrossing into the characters psyche as you try and understand what actually is going on.

As the affair progresses, we discover the officer's obsession with unresolved cases which he keeps pictures of on a wall in his home. He suffers from insomnia as he struggles to resolve these cases. She comes into his world, helping him sleep, and caring for him. She starts also supporting him in solving the cases that he has left open. They fall apart when he discovers that she actually was behind the murder and he leaves the town. Just like the dead bird, anything she comes to care for eventually suffers. Why then does she go to the city where he resides with his wife? Why does she then proceed to commit suicide in this weird way following the strange mystery of her second husband's death? Well I think this is her way of cementing herself as another unresolved case and thus permanently present in his mind.

A very smart movie at some points, while being too confusing at other points. I think this first viewing suffered from the lack of good subtitles as I am sure lots of things got lost in translation. I will try rewatching again when I find better subtitles.

A somber and mysterious movie from start to finish. Bong truly creates the most perfect psychological thriller. This is not achieved just through the narrative, but interwoven with the music, cinematography and acting. I will discuss each of these elements independtly while describing how they relate to the central idea of "what is mystery?".

I will begin by describing what I think the philosophy of the movie is going for with its dissection of mystery. Mystery is different from not knowing or not understanding, but is instead a matter of something being hidden. For something to be hidden you must know that it exists and thus knowledge is already established, just misplaced in a sense. This is captured very well in the movie Cache/Hidden by Michael Haneke, which shares a lot of features with this work. Anyway, mystery as a genre from Agatha Christie style whodunnit to modern psychological thrillers like Shutter Island all revolve around the same idea, which is to deceive the audience and conceal the true motives, inner reality and psychology of the characters. Mystery essentially shows us how little we actually can tell about the people around us and how empathy can lead us astray from the truth of people's realities.

In terms of narrative this idea is very apparent. The plot moves in a way so that almost every character we meet we form an opinion on that we later come to discard. We initially see Do-joon's best friend Jin-tae as a dishonest and disloyal character and thus readily lean in to Mother's suspicions about him. We soon discover, that although he is despicable in many ways he is not actually the perpetrator of the murder and honestly wants to help Mother find the truth. Another example is when we are led to think that the junk shop dude is the killer but we soon find out that he was just a witness. Of course the biggest misdirection occurs with the ending where we discover that Do-joon actually did commit the crime. So many hidden things, so many things that go by misunderstood because of the character's biases and assumptions (and in a sense our own assumptions as an audience accompanying the characters). Of course the plot also shows what it means to be a loving mother and how complex that love can manifest. This can be directly related to the central idea of mystery though by the fact that we lie and conceal from the ones we love or for the ones we love. The morality of that is not the issue here but the feelings and care that motivate us to hide and conceal to protect the people we care about. Another important theme is the idea of memory and how we can essentially hide from even ourselves by forgetting. In a way our faulty memories makes our forgotten past our own inner mystery.

The cinematography really adds to the sense of mystery. The movie is filled with closeups that always focus on the eyes of characters and we are left wondering about their inner thoughts and motives. The panning shots drag behind and this thrilling way of moving the camera brings us to the edge of our seats as we are irritated to find what will be on the edge of the camera. The dark and grim palette of the movie also adds to this theme, for what is more mysterious and hidden than darkness itself. The big landscape style shoots in the city, bar, and streets constantly bring so many people into the frame that have nothing to do with the plot. It's the director's way of showing us how many people there are that we also don't know the motive of, how even in this small city in Korea we don't know who to suspect.

The acting is of course superb, with the mother in particular. She truly does a magnificent job of portraying the cliche sheltering mother but then also shows the visceral, vivid and shocking ways love can manifest. Her screams, stares, even her sly attempts at manipulation, all her moves can bring us empathy. Yet we still feel distanced, for she too feels like she is hiding something. From that very intimate scene of her dancing in the beginning, we suspect this, we know there is more to her.

How do the elements of the movie bring this all together? Well the symmetry of the plot, starting with a dance sequence and ending with one, frames the whole experience. Bong is an amazing director and writer for everything he puts seems to have a purpose, even the most mundane aspects, plot points and props we later discover that they were foreshadowing something, hiding something. The music is mischievous and playful, almost not fitting in with the darker tone of the movie but I think this is just because of Bong's deep understanding of mystery. Hiding something can be playful, even a bit silly. This is why he doesn't shy away from breaking the tension with his classic dark humor and comedic sequences.

I have truly enjoyed this movie and the more I think about it, the more I like it. I apologize for the long review, but I felt that such a movie deserves a deeper analysis. I look forward to seeing it again and definitely recommend it to everyone.

This film really captures the idea of human interaction with the environment through it's plot and metaphors. There is no dialogue in the movie and we are forced to understand what is happening only through the visual medium. This makes the visual much more powerful but also gives room for the music to engross us completely.

The man's struggle against nature is very literal in the beginning. He fights against the elements, trying to satisfy his hunger and thirst. While exploring the island he falls into a hole near a cliff where he gets stuck. He is forced to dive deep into a crevice between the rocks to escape outside to the sea. This is a clear metaphor for the struggles we face against nature. While we seek to explore and understand our world we are forced into tough spots that we then must overcome, a very relevant idea with climate change looming over us. This idea is further highlighted with the man trying to escape from the island using a raft that he built. The raft keeps getting destroyed, later we learn, by a giant red turtle. This sea turtle symbolizes nature, but also in a more idealistic sense it relates to wisdom, beauty and power. The man who is short term minded regards the actions of the turtle with hate. He destroys the turtle and causes it's death in a gruesome scene. Then a metamorphosis occurs where the man finds a beautiful lady within the turtle shell. As he falls in love with the lady and accepts his fate and comes to think of the island as a home, he comes to regret his previous actions. The meaning behind this particular sequence of surreal events can probably be interpreted in many ways. However, I come to believe that it's a message about environmentalism and how we don't regard beauty until it's too late.

When his child later grows up, he falls into the same hole as the father. His mother then guides him to his escape showing the role of parenting and society in the progress of our relationship with nature. The boy later grows up and sets to escape the island with a raft, aided by turtles. This kind of cyclical end shows how we progress but how we also are repeating the lives of our parents in some way as well.

The movie's animation is beautiful and very simple. The shadows are used more than once to bring out emotions of different kinds. The color palette is mostly dull and subdued which makes the vivid red of the turtle come out in a strong contrast. The surreal aspects of the dreams utilize the medium in a way that shows how animation can triumph live action in terms of it's simple yet effective delivery. There is comic relief in terms of little crabs that help break the tension and the overall somber note of the movie. Overall, the movie is strong, with significant themes and an emotional delivery, yet it is lacking of a more clear message. Although, I usually do appreciate metaphorical and symbolic movies that are more abstract in nature and leave the interpretation to the audience, the whole thing feels forced rather than a subtle layer.