Now 50, South Korean director Na Hong-jin’s most recent film (it’s only his third feature), comes with something of an identity crisis. An award-winning local hit, it’s one of those films that seems as surprised by its own constantly changing tone as we are. (It’s an old directing trick to not let your cast in on where the story’s headed, quite another to not let the writers know!) At first, this plays as a slightly off-kilter serial murder investigation, with an oddly large police force for a small rural area in the mountains. Our lead is heavyset Kwak Do-won, family-man/detective, always late to the crime scene from quality time at home with wife & adorable daughter. And not much of a help when he does get there. But the slightly comic tone doesn’t last long as a series of seismic shocks turn action to an even darker place when a possible killer is identified: A Man from Japan, not exactly a tourist and perhaps not exactly a man. A ghost? The Devil? An Un-Dead? Maybe he’s on the hunt for another possible culprit, a mysterious lady who takes possession of the detective’s daughter. Next thing you know, it’s full bore Korean Exorcism to save the girl. Or at least get rid of that scary looking rash her doctor can’t explain. (Neither can the film.) By the third act, we’ve morphed into something more like a Walking Dead off-shoot than detective case, and with too many half measures taken trying to find what might end all the creepy mysteries. Na Hong-jin keeps us watching, especially with that shaman act, a bloody abattoir of mysticism (many a flying chicken head!), but the film is unsatisfying,
DOUBLE-BILL: Not seen here, but Na Hong-jin’s first feature, THE CHASER/’08, about a disgraced cop and a missing prostitute, sounds a lot more focused.
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