A Tale of Two Sisters

[zipperha]

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

"A Tale of Two Sisters" is one of the most unsettling, layered, deeply frightening movies I have had the pleasure to see. Released in the US in 2004, it is without a doubt, the best horror film of 2004. While superficially its plot bears resemblance to other genre films about ghosts with long black hair, namely "Ringu" and the "Ju-On" films, there is an aura to the film that none other has. At once bright and colorful, the film is simultaneously dark and brooding. It is a testament to the success of a film when a feeling of doom pervades even scenes set amidst sun and calm.

Its story is simple. Based on a Korean legend, "Janghwa, Hongryeon", the film plays much like a twisted fairly tale. It begins subdued and mysterious, like many of the Slow Burn horror films of the last decade. It begins with a catatonic girl in what appears to be a mental hospital. When a doctor attempts to pry some sort of truth from the girl, she simply remains catatonic, but slowly looks off to the side: her story is about to be told.

The story is then set into motion, as we flash back to Soo-mi's (Su-jeong Lim) and Soo-Yeon's (Geun-yeong Mun) arrival to their old house; while details are scarce, it is implied that the girls left after their mother's death. Their father (Kap-su Kim) is tattered and worn, and their stepmother (Jung-ah Yum), who used to be their ailing mother's nurse, is at first, and at her best a phony sicaphant to her stepchildren, and at her worst a maniacal bitch. As the three go about their lives amidst extreme tension, spooky goings-on ensue. Soo-yeon finds herself plagued by a closet that sits in her room. Their father tells them never to speak of it. As Soo-yeon begins to sleep she hears strange sounds and sees from the corner of her eyes something terrifying making its way towards her. Yet it is not only Soo-yeon who experiences such terror. In a truly horrifying, heart-stopping sequence, a ghostly apparition hovers above Soo-mi, for an exructiating period of time. And with this the film has no other concrete plot. The film is firmly ungrounded in reality, until the end. Motivations and truth are sheethed behind insanity, corruption and the supernatural. The audience is never sure what is real, what is imagined, and when, or even if, reality finally sets in.

Yet this is not to say that "A Tale of Two Sisters" is muddled. It knows exactly where it is going, and that is the beauty of the film. There is a key, and quite unexpected plot twist that comes 2/3 of the way into the film. It is not a typical plot twist, like those coup de grace capoffs featured in bad M. Night Shmalyan films. Rather it is a twist that opens new themes and plays off of the existing drama and relationships between the two sisters. When it hits, it is deeply saddening, rather than shocking (though it is surprising).

The sisters are the best part of the film. Soo-mi is Soo-yeon's caregiver, and cares for her as if she were her own daughter. There relationship is truly believable and endearing, and the audience cannot sympathize enough with their plight. Soo-yeon is silent and innocent, and Soo-mi finds she must protect her. Their stepmother seems to be driven mad by the close bond between the sisters, and Soo-mi's insistance to be with Soo-yeon. Soo-mi also shuns her stepmother's presence in what used to be their mother's household. Su-jeong Lim is brilliant as Soo-mi, at once caring and respectful and at other times rebellious and strong. Geun-yeong Mun is just plain cute as her quiet sister, and steals the film in a climatic scene. Jung-ah Yum however is the best of the fine actresses. She plays crazy and homicidal like no other. Watch as her anger builds and builds slowly over time. It pays off beyond anything the film leads you to expect.

The film also has amazing technical prowess. It is rich in color and bright hues, and features sweeping beautiful camera work. It is subtle, quiet, and at times, deeply scary. It also makes wonderful use of a yellowish hue used to denote the past. The present, once it is reached, is dark and disturbing. The epitome of the film's splendor is that even when "reality" sets in in the present, fantasy, and horrific occurances, remain.

The film will leave many questions for the viewer to decipher, and nothing will be completely clear. But the film is less about answers than it is about the strength of human relationships - the ones we love never truly leave us, and after watching "A Tale of Two Sisters", I will never forget that.

4/4 Units of Praise ------ AN ESSENTIAL HORROR MASTERPIECE

[ChemicalRomance]

Can you link me to a place where I can buy this? I had been looking at it..

[X-Nightcrawler]

"A Tale Of Two Sisters", Korea, 2003.



Plot:
After spending time in a mental hospital, two sisters go back to their house. Enter the evil stepmother, some creepy apparitions and a shitload of 'what the fucks?'.

"There was a girl under the sink"

What I Thought:
When it comes to werewolf or asian movies, I can watch them until the cows come home. So, "A Tale Of Two Sisters" came highly reccomended. After my wet and shat pants during "The Eye", I was lusting for more, this film was often called "scariest movie ever". So, I watched it, alone with the lights turned off and the volume blasting . . . let's see what Santa brought:

This movie isn't a lot of things, for one, it isn't "the scariest movie ever" (although it comes very goddamn close) but it is a lot of things. "A Tale Of Two Sisters" is a drama, a mindfuck of sorts and a ghost story, all mashed up into one big experience. What I'd say is the film's stronger point is it's cleverly plotted storyline. It starts of simple, straightforward and clean. As the plot developes, so do the characters and the complexities.

During the beggining blocks, we see a well written human drama, divorce, the loss of someone loved and the problems when trying to adapt to a new life. Soon, the movie goes 'David Lynch' on hour asses, pulling off every single "Jesus, what the fuck?!" trick there is (that's right! get ready for plot twists galore, doppelgangers, alternate and shifting realities and then some). It all adds up for it's conclusion that will leave you guessing.

The characters are SUPERB, during it's first acts, before the Lynching begins, the characters grow a lot, their personalities are defined and we begin to love them all. While in the closing act, you're just smacked in the head and- no wait, I'll leave that for you to see for yourself. The acting was also top notch. The stepmom is the best player by far (the dinner scene alone tells you that, WOW). The girls deliver their scared and multiphasetical performances like champs. I was overwhelmed.

The directing starts out as standard (*dramatic closeup*) but fear not, it quickly improves. Near the end, the kinetic and fluid camerawork is a visual treat, with lighting adding atmosphere. There's that "camera going around characters" shot that left me drooling. This man can also create tension, that chocking scene anyone? The scares aren't frequent but when they come, THEY FUCKING COUNT! The scene with a ghost girl that puts Sadako to shame crawling (or whatever the hell it was doing) had me smacking my legs with anticipation.

The flaws? Well, the movie has a few flaws but they're all minor. First, there's the fact that characters dissapear for extended periods of time, which isn't too bad because it doesn't hurt the characterizations. There's also the "Dennis The Menace" thing gig with the evil stepmother falling over the fishing hooks and whatnot. There's also the concluding chapter, where everything begins to gel, while that's awesomly well written, it does drag a lot at one point. Again, these flaws are minor and they won't hurt your viewing experience.

Gore:
A few. There's something's skin strewn in the fridge, a bird getting it's neck snapped, someone clubbing, a blood trail, blood dripping, and some more minor splashes . . . there's also that bag.

Overall Rating:
9/10. A cleverly plotted, well acted and characterized movie that's a mistery with some serious tension/scares. Minor flaws are present but this is one of the most quality asian horror movies out there. Get yourself something to bite down on and get down on "A Tale Of Two Sisters".

Other Reviews.

[zipperha]

The US DVD has not been released yet - it will be March 29.

If you are dying to get this movie though, it is available for only like $13 at yesasia.com, but it is a Region 3 disc. It is the Hong Release, but its the same movie, and the disc has english subs.

A Tale of Two Sisters DVD - yesasia.com

Or you can wait until March 29

But get it eventually, its worth it!

[ChemicalRomance]

Originally posted by zipperha
The US DVD has not been released yet - it will be March 29.

If you are dying to get this movie though, it is available for only like $13 at yesasia.com, but it is a Region 3 disc. It is the Hong Release, but its the same movie, and the disc has english subs.

A Tale of Two Sisters DVD - yesasia.com

Or you can wait until March 29

But get it eventually, its worth it!

I'll wait.

Thanks for the info!

[spacemonkey]

Title:A Tale of Two Sisters (2004)

Director: Ji Woo Kim

Review:

Theres been a lot of rave going on with asian horror as of late and among other must see asian horror films that have been mentioned 'A Tale of Two Sisters' always popped up as being one of the best. Was I impressed? Heck yeah! This film was spoooky! Its no wonder americans are looking to asian horror to see something new and interesting as far as horror goes!

The main story is about these two sisters who have been away from their family and home for some time. You see their mother just died and they couldnt deal very well with the situation so they were sent away to a mental institution. Now upon their return they have to deal with the uncomfortable situation of having to live with their wicked stepmother who treats them like crap 100% of the time. Supernatural things begin to occur in the house upon their arrival.

I was first and foremost impressed with the visual aspect of the film. It has this control over lights and shadows thats just amazing. Even the sequences inside the house that occured during day time looked spooky. Not only that but the film had a really beautiful color palette to it, lots of browns reds, yellows. At times if kind of felt like a David Lynch film with all those flashy colors. Its strange cause its like a weird mix of bright colors and shadows. Very dark, very eerie. In other words....great classy cinematography.

Normally asian films use spooky little girls with long black hair and lots of white make up on their faces to scare their audiences. I never found it particularly spooky until I saw this film. There is one sequence in wich an apparition scares one of the sisters, boy Ill tell you that was a frightening image. It was different then anything I had seen on films like Ringu or Ju-On, it looked darker...more evil in a way. Ill give props to the director for making that sequence excellently spooky! The perfect mix of music and visual hightened the whole thing inmensely.

Another thing I enjoyed very very much was the chemistry between the two sisters. Obviously these two sisters had their own little world, they understood each other perfectly and took care of each other. One is more innocent and childlike then the other, and the older one is always looking out and taking care of her little sister and I liked this aspect of this movie very much cause you keep feeling like something is going to mess their perfect little world. The two actresses did a really good job. Also of notice is the wicked stepmother and when I say wicked I mean it! This crazy bitch can go ballistic in .03 seconds!

The way the movie is structured, you feel kind of lost in certain areas but not in a bad way. Your given very little information and the film expects you to pick up certain things on your own without any explanation...of course when the time comes, everything is explained in the proper fashion. But until then, you are left with some delicious questions and ideas to play with in your mind.

I liked how the story takes place in the house for 90% of the film. Because let me tell ya, this house is creeepy and right in the middle of nowhere. The exterior shots of the house made it look very frightning...and I liked that it was a small cast, yet they made the whole thing soooo interesting and all that much spookier simple cause it was this small family in the middle of nowhere! Great atmosphere.

This is so far, one of the best asian horror films Ive ever seen. Very good on the technical as well as the story and acting departments, but most of all itll spook you the hell out.

Rating: 5 out of 5

[dark-angel]

I heard alot about this film before i watched it last night, but it didnt disappoint... this movie would easily be the best asian horro ive seen (far better then the ring or itsd remake, the grudge, dark water etc)....... The storyline was engaging, with chills a plenty..... kind of reminded me of a fuct up fairy tale (horror style of course)......

8.5/10

[Cronos]

so am i the only one that found A Tale of Two Sisters to be a huge disappointement?

it does have a few things going for it, mainly the good performances and excellent direction, it really looks great and the director knows how to use lighting and camera angles to great effect

sadly thats all i found of interest in the film, firstly it wasnt in the least bit scary, it tries to catch you out with a few quick boo scares where the music started quiet and then clashed looudly which all failed, it also didnt create any kind of tension or suspense

i also found the characters to be very uninteresting or i just hated them (such as the stepmother)....this was the main problem since if i dont get into the characters i cant enjoy the film

i also didnt find the plot to be that interesting and nearly changed the channel a number of times. also the twists toward the end didnt help

I'd wanted to see this since its release but am glad i didnt pay anything to do so

3/10

[ScaryFreak1827]

One of the best horror movies I've seen in a long time! Great acting, atmosphere, and genuine scenes of suspense/scares; I wasn't bored once. Things got a little confusing towards the end but after some thought I put the pieces together. Amazing film. 9/10

[Tuukka]

I liked it up until the 3rd act. Nice visuals, directing and acting. The script was pretty solid. Nothing remarkable, but it works.

Unfortunately for some reason the film decided that it needed a twist ending, no, THREE twist endings one after another, each one ripped off from a big Hollywood movie of the last 10 years before this film came out.

Also each consequtive, derivative twist ending makes the film less and less comprehensible and logical, until it's head disappears into it's own ass.

It's a bit of a shame, since the film during the first two acts was good.

6/10.