A Tale of Two Sisters
2004 ‘Janghwa, Hongryeon’ Directed by Kim Jee-Woon
Synopsis
Our sorrow was conceived long before our birth
Two young sisters recovering from an unnamed trauma must face a mysterious past in this excellent South Korean shocker. A worldwide hit upon its release and based on an old Korean fairy tale; two sisters come to live with their cold and distant father and turn-on-a-dime stepmother in a house where nothing is as it seems. A wonderfully haunting score, starkly beautiful imagery, and a labyrinthine plot that twists and turns at every dark corner all set the stage for a riveting and often terrifying guessing game of a movie. Equal parts drama, mystery, and ghost story, A Tale of Two Sisters is a richly complex and challenging cinematic treat that may very well demand repeat viewings.
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To all involved in the making of this film:
You're all a bunch of heartless bastards.
Sincerely,
Dirk's insomnia
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I happened across this title today and decided to give it a watch out of morbid curiosity. I knew it was hailed as one of Korea's best horror movies, and one of the best films from director Jee-Woon Kim. As a fan of both Korean cinema and Kim, deciding to watch this was a no brainer.
After finishing this movie I have 3 things to say:
1: Why can't American horror movies scare me like foreign horror movies can
2: Kim sure does have a weird collection of movies under his belt(I Saw the Devil, Tale of Two Sisters, The Last Stand.) That last one is a big WTF...
3: With all of this talk of North Korea threatening nuclear…
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#9 in my 'Foreign Films Season'.
Things I have learnt from watching this: The South Koreans can make movies other than revenge movies, and they do it well, and I will be sleeping with the light on tonight.
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Creepy. It's just creepy for the longest time. Not much happens for the first hour except that, well, it's damned creepy. After that when things start to be revealed, something you've been waiting for, it's interesting. It's not the be-all and end-all, but it is interesting. And just when you get comfortable with that, just when your mind starts going over the entire film with this new revelation in mind it starts banging out more revelations one after the other until it's over and all you can say is wtf in a good way. I love that sort of stuff.
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Couldn't get into this at all. Characters were shallow, plot was boring, camerawork was uninspired, music was not impressive... If you told me the guy who made this was the same guy who made I Saw The Devil, I'd probably laugh out loud.
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I would struggle to find a bad word to say about this film. The labyrinthine plot is intelligent & mysterious enough to more than keep you interested & the balance between horror, mystery, drama & beauty is perfection. The score is stunningly haunting which compliments the imagery extremely well. There is a sharp neatness to the film which makes it very pleasing on the eyes. The cast are outstanding & the camerawork is flawless.
A visually arresting masterpiece.
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Contains some of the most suspenseful scenes I've seen in a horror for a long time. Towards the second half of the film, it gets weird and confusing and obviously hints at a twist, the state of confusion it puts you in for 30 minutes is not worth the finale pay-off though, it's almost frustrating how confusing it is until the end.
Overall it's creepy and very un-nerving, the story didn't blow me away but it's an entertaining korean horror never-the-less.
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Two sisters come to live with their father and stepmother after their mother dies. Then strange and spooky things start to happen. The film is a slow-burn and builds its horror and tension quite gradually (crazy shit happens in the second and third acts). It introduces lots of twists and turns, some of it, I felt didn't quite work so well. But still, it's a very well-made psychological horror film with some really, really good atmospheric scares. I like the fact that director Kim Ji-won managed to avoid cheap jump scares.
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@Camdun_Roar: The Koreans have a way of taking fantastical plots and infuse them with universal themes. 8.25/10
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My first Kim Ji-woon experience, which meh. He's capable of a strong sense of framing and a knack for color that keeps this watchable, and he manages a number of deeply unsettling moments mostly courtesy of Yeon Jeong-ah as the titular sisters' stepmom (a dinner party scene had my teeth on edge even before the really nasty business began). Unfortunately, works better as a family melodrama with disturbing elements than it does as straight-up horror, in part because shock cuts and stinger chords do not automatically = scary to me.
Also, was anyone else annoyed by how hard it is to actually make out what's happening on a shot-to-shot basis, especially in the final third? I'm not talking trying to…
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A Tale of Two Sisters is a great example of psychological horror done right. The film moves at a deliberate pace, and slowly unwinds a tale of tragedy involving two sisters, their temperamental stepmother and their distant father. Kim Jee-Woon is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors working today.
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I did not quite understand what was going on, maybe because I'm lacking the ability to perfectly distinguish asians from eachother, other then that I expected a tiny bit more from this director. Not really disappointed though.
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"There's something strange in this house."
This psychological horror is a film that left me with mixed feelings, managing at times to send chills down my spine and really unsettle me. But it's major twists and turns left me perplexed and scratching my head trying to figure out if they made sense, and how i felt about them.
The plot follows two girls who return home after being hospitalised after a family tragedy, and once they are home disturbing things start to happen. The films really does well in building up the creepiness. The house, in all it's beauty really lends itself well to the necessary way a horror should be shot. With the darkness in places and the way…
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I don't think that film is as good as the hype around it suggests but there's no denying that it's a good film. It's extremely well made with an excellent and well thought out plot line (although the start was terribly slow I felt it set the scene for the rest of the film in a way that a faster start wouldn't have done); I really enjoyed the film but after watching it I just expected to feel more scared that I did, the kind of fear that has me turning on the light to check if the room is empty rather than simply thinking about it. There was parts that scared me however I didn't find it very memorable…
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.