Reviews

Seeing that this barely has had any audience I'm amazed how controversily it has been recieved in the reviews:

In my eyes the movie doesn't qualify as a horror flick, but it is a pure bred thriller. For most it might be a little rough to enjoy the storyline, as we're being dealt a missfit set of characters that are hard to empathize with. But it's exactly their consistency therein, that make this movie a fantastic gut wrencher. All sibilings deal with their childhood trauma in a unique way, that in itself forms a picture that the viewer might be able to puzzle together before its penultimate conclusion.

I'm quite sure that most people will be surprised how good this movie actually is, therefore I recommend seeing it.

I'm generally hooked on historic movies, usually fascinated by the aspect alone that the events displayed really happened.

Sadly however that is about the only grace the movie can offer. Absolutely bland & one-dimensional characters, the antagonist SS- Officer was a complete joke - especially if you're capable of the German language. (grammatically this didn't even resemble German at times + there wasn't a single authentic line in the entire movie.)

In its entirety Dunkirk has nothing to offer, but a few 'heroics'. - Not once have I been sucked into this story. Not once have I felt an inkling of the immediate threat of the situation.

All that aside, perhaps the worst thing about this movie are the overwhelmingly positive reviews of critics. I know war hero stories from WW2 are a sanctity few would mess with - but this movie stands as a shameful testament towards that bias.

I was expecting more from Nolan, hopefully he will get back to his old self.

As Korean movies inherently have a smaller audience than the latest Hollywood blockbusters, it is usually a good idea to take the ratings with a grain of salt. Most often they are made by enthusiasts that won't give you an objective perspective - in fact everything but.

In this particular case, I should have heeded my own advise, the story was exceedingly greasy and frankly just not original enough to deserve the rating that it got here.(7.4 as of 06/16) The characters were absolutely bland and one-dimensional, it makes you think you are watching a cartoon.(especially Hyun Bin as Kang) Some may blame this on culture differences, but I vehemently reject the sentiment. This romance is at best on par with the Twilight franchise. I have seen romance in Korean movies that was exceedingly well done, this one just doesn't stand up in quality.(My Sassy Girl if you haven't seen it!)

It is a very small group of people that I'd advise to watch this movie. But to even label it as a flick for teenagers might be insulting to this particular kind of specimen. However, if you absolutely want to watch this because you liked the synopsis, I beseech you to check out this alternative: More Than Blue (2009) covers almost the same theme, but won't insult your intelligence in the process.

Addressing a variety of themes such as underaged prostitution, grief and mourning, resulting in a series of bad decisions that are devoid of sanity, but full of emotion.

Although prostitution is illegalized in Korea, it is still a national phenomenon. Many young women resort to sell their bodies to cover for tuition costs and the demands of an exceptionally materialistic society.

Kim Ki-Duk cleverly explores the issue by adding a morality check, introducing religious motives from Buddhist and Christian beliefs in the dialogue of his characters. In doing so he leaves us to speculate about the intent of an already ambiguous ending scene.

My only problems with this movie stem from its pacing, at times scenes were so drawn out that it lost my attention for a while. However it always got me back in the next scene.

If you want to see a dark and unsettling drama, give this one a shot.