Synopsis: A daughter returns to her family’s home after a stay in a psychiatric hospital. However, despite her treatment, she’s still seeing ghosts.
Director: Jee-woon Kim
Starring: Kap-su Kim, Jang-ah Yum and Su-jeong Lim
Review: I love this movie. It’s got ghosts, horror, family disputes and a pretty good twist at the end.
The movie opens with Bae Soo-mi meeting with her doctor. She’s obviously a disturbed young woman, emitting trauma and desperation. She returns home but you can immediately tell that there are problems in the household: her father is distant and her stepmother would put Disney’s most evil to shame and then there’s her sister. The sisters are close and try to protect each other from the harshness of their stepmother and the distracted nature of their father. The only love and happiness in the household is that generated between the sisters. The house itself has lots of dark corners, perfect for ghosts to hide in. The ghosts are desperatelytrying to tell Bae Soo-mi something but she can’t understand them and the frustration is driving the whole household crazy.
The acting is solid by all the characters, from the distant, guilt-ridden Kap-su Kim as the father, Jung-ah Yum personifying the epitome of evil stepmother and both sisters trying to deal with the death of their mother as well as the strange entity which haunts their home. The scenery is beautiful and the distinctive colours of each set add to the atmosphere. Director Jee-woon Kim does a great job of building atmosphere which can only really be appreciated with a second viewing.
Foreign movies aren’t for everybody and the story can be a little hard to follow but I would highly recommend you stick with it because it’s more than worth it.