Review
by Martin Cleary
Firstly, let me start off by saying that I had no idea what to
expect from this film as I had no idea what it was about. I’d heard
a few people mention it, but decided not to read any reviews as it’s
sometimes better to see a film without knowing anything about it.
Also, the films poster had me hooked anyway, with its macabre
‘family portrait’ image. A Tale Of Two Sisters was, for me a
pleasant surprise – if you can say that about a horror film. If you
like slow paced character horror, then don’t both reading this
review – just go see it - as the less you know, the better it is. As
I’ve just mentioned, the film is paced very slowly. From its opening
scenes you can tell that this is a story which will unfold gently,
and that atmosphere is the most important thing here. If you’re
looking for a quick, graphic and nasty horror film then look
elsewhere. There’s nothing much in the film that will have you
closing your eyes in disgust, or screaming at the characters to ‘run
away’. Instead, ATOTS gets underneath your skin. I found it
creepiest when the film had actually ended, and I was thinking about
it. Sound stupid? The reason for this is that you need to watch the
film all of the way through to make any sense of it all. There’s a
moment in ATOTS – about two thirds of the way through – when
something happens that makes you go ‘what?’ It’s from this point
that the film begins to seem to start making sense, yet at the same
time other parts get more confusing. You’ll have to see it to see
what I mean, but it is because the story is dependent on the films
actual structure itself. There’s a couple of references in ATOTS to
other fairly recent horror films such as Ringu and Audition –
although this is a film with much more restraint and lacks the
graphic delight / horror of Audition, and without the rigid
‘count-down’ structure of Ringu. The story’s structure in ATOTS is
the main key to understanding it. The film is actually loosely based
on a Korean folk-tale,
and has been previously filmed in various versions five times
before. This wasn’t a story that I was familiar with and so I can’t
compare this with any of the other versions, but to me the story
seemed fresh and continually interesting. The performances are
excellent from the whole cast. The two girls, played by Im Soo-Jung
and Moon Geun-Young, hold the film with ease and manage to make sure
that you can’t tell if you’re supposed to sympathize with them or
if there’s something more sinister underneath. Yeom Jung-Ah as the
step-mother also gives a strong performance, and she’s an actress
I’ll keep an eye out for in the future. This is a gothic horror film
and the backgrounds and surroundings in the film (mainly the house)
take on a character of their own. There’s lots of long tracking
shots which really give you the sense of the space, but also make
you worry about what may be around the corner. It’s beautifully shot
and every scene seems to have been carefully planned with an
artist’s eye, and ATOTS is visually the most striking Korean film
that I have seen yet. It won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but A Tale
Of Two Sisters will stick in your mind. I have been intentionally
vague about the way the plot develops, but this is because it would
be easy to give away the story to a film which
impresses with its subtleties and originality. If you do like ATOTS,
you’ll probably want to see it again to work out its hidden layers.
| Plot : |
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| Acting : |
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| Entertainment : |
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| Overall : |
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| Notable Scenes : |
- The girls return home to some
stunning cinematography and a brilliant
theme tune
- The dinner party
- The ‘Oh shit’ revelation
- The final moments when it starts to make some sense |
DVD Review : A Tale of Two Sister [Tartan Asia
Extreme Edition]
by Martin Cleary
Sometimes dvd releases seem to cover pretty much
anything that you can think off, with features on nearly every
aspect of the film – and this is certainly the case with Tartans
2-disc release of A Tale of Two Sisters. Here’s a breakdown:
Disc 1
- The Movie: see above review
- Commentary tracks, in Korean with English subtitles.
1) Commentary with Director and Cast: A good track with the director
and the two sisters of
the film. The girls are quite giggly and don’t speak very
much, and sometimes Kim Jee
Woon is only describing what is on screen, but this is good.
2) Commentary with Director, Director of Photography and Lighting
Director:
Obviously a more technical commentary focusing on the look of
the film and some of the
artistic decisions made during production.
- Original Theatrical Trailer: In Korean with English subs, quickly
edited trailer which suggests
the film is bloodier than it actually is.
- UK Exclusive Directors Interview: (30 mins) There’s some
interesting points here, but it’s
frustrating because the interview is held with a translator, so we hear
Jee-Woon answer in
Korean, then hear it translated into English. Subtitles would’ve been
better!
Disc2 (All features in Korean with English subtitles)
- Creating A Tale Of Two Sisters:
- Behind the Scenes (25mins) On the set interviews, shots, pictures,
sketches and publicity
stills. It’s quite general but also has a couple of funny moments.
- Production Design Featurette (12mins) Closer look at the Art
Directors development of the
film – sets, lighting and costumes. This is basically an interview broken
into sections.
- Music Score Featurette (6mins) Short look at the score being
recorded. Byoung-Woo Lee,
the Music Director also did the sound effects.
- CGI Documentary Featurette (6mins) Two CGI technicians talk
through the effects shots.
There’s more CGI than you realize, so it shows its used well.
- Creating The Poster Featurette (6mins) On the set of the posters’
photo-shoot. The
photographer is slightly creepy as he explains how to make people
anxious.
-Interviews:
These are all interviews between the actors and the director so they are
more like a
discussion. The director doesn’t seem to have spoken to them much on the
set of the film and
so they ask him questions as much as he asks them. Everyone (the girls in
particular) seem
to have really struggled making the film. They’re pretty good interviews.
-Kim Kab-Su (Father) 10mins
-Yeom Yeung-Ah (Stepmother) 10mins
-Im Soo-Jung (Su-Mi) 12mins
-Moon Geun-Young (Su-Yeon) 13mins
- An Explanation By The Director, 10mins. This is not an explanation
of the plot as much as
discussing why he made the film and his filmmaking plans.
- Directors Thoughts On Horror, 15mins. A discussion between Kim
Jee-Woon and another
Korean director on the conventions / rules of the horror genre and how
they try to subvert
them.
- A Psychiatrists’ Perspective, 5mins. Discusses how credible the
ideas of the film are to a
psychoanalyst.
- Stills Gallery, 4mins. Publicity and on the set photographs, while
that excellent theme plays.
As you can probably tell, the extras features cover almost every
aspect of the film. There’s a few areas of repetition (there’s
several references to how the film ‘subvert’s the horror genre’) but
these are to be expected and are kept to a minimum. It’s an
excellent release – if you really like the film of course. Also
included is a 2-page booklet written by Jamie Russell on the
audience and critics reception to the film. A highly recommended dvd
release. [Most of the extra features on this 2-disc set are the same
as the Korean 2-disc version, although many of the features on that
release (such as the commentaries) do not have English subtitles]
DVD Info
Tartan Asia Extreme Release
Content: 2 discs, 2-page booklet
Format: Widescreen (Bonus Features fullscreen)
Languages: Korean
Audio: Stereo, 5.1, DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English
Region: 0 (All region, PAL)
Presentation: 9/10
Picture: 8/10
Subtitles: 9/10
Special Features: 8/10
Disc Overall: 9/10
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