Movie Review for A Tale Of Two Sisters - 2004-09-14. A Tale Of Two SistersI’m starting to doubt that Asian cinema consists of anything more than suited men shooting guns in slow motion, mystic helium-sucking ninja warriors in Crayola colored pyjamas, and spooky slow-burning ghost stories. Thankfully, A Tale of Two Sisters is refreshingly a little different than the likes of Ringu, Ju-On or The Eye, leaning far more towards psychological sensibilities than a horror angle.
Unfortunately for many, it is even more deliberately paced than even the most deliberately paced Asian horror movie and twice as complex. Su-Mi and Su-Yeon are two young girls recently released from a mental institution. They have returned home to live with their brooding father and neurotic stepmother. Instead of a placid place to aid their recovery they find themselves having to cope with not only their slightly unhinged stepmother’s increasing cruelty but the possibility that a restless ghost may be present in their home. Ji-woon Kim. Janghwa, Hongryeon (2003. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003): Su-jeong Lim, Geon-yeung Mun, Jung-ah Yum, Kap-su Kim - PopMatters Film Review. Tricks Arguably the most talked about Asian horror film since Ringu in 1998, the creepy A Tale of Two Sisters shocks and perplexes. Based on the Korean folktale, “Rose Flower, Red Lotus,” it features an almost incomprehensible plot. Watching it feels like standing in a dark corner, staring at a painting that moves.
Reds, blues, and purples slide along director Ji-woon Kim’s canvas and it’s impossible to look away, even when it’s scary. On the new Tartan DVD, the director asserts that he “put too much effort into the art direction and the visuals.” The place has an unrelenting creepiness giving the impression that “something bad” happened here, but it’s not until a truly terrible dinner with relatives to welcome she and her sister home that we learn not only does Su-mi have demons to conquer, so does everyone around her. Tartan’s two-disc set is packed with detailed discussions of all such elements. Appropriately, the DVD extras don’t focus much on story. A Tale Of Two Sisters - mandiapple.com/snowblood. Directed by Ji-woon Kim, 2003, 115 min. starring Kim Kap-su, Yum Jung-a, Lim Su-jeong and Moon Geun-yeong. Korea has given us some pretty nifty horror films. Okay, so maybe the one that stands out is the brilliant Whispering Corridors and everything else is either mediocre or just okay. Personally, I think Nightmare is a pretty good scare.
But I digress. Sadly, up until recently it was considered that both Korea and Hong Kong were lagging behind in the genre: Korea still has yet to really stake their claim on the horror market, unlike the HK crossover hit The Eye. They still don't have the instant classic that Japan has with Ring, despite trying very hard with films like Wishing Stairs, The Uninvited, and more recently Acacia. Certainly those recent releases showed a marked improvement, after the almost purely derivative teen-chiller Phone stirred up renewed interest among Korean filmmakers and cineastes. Synopsis At dinner, tension and rivalry are rampant... and so is insanity. Harvard Film Archive: A Tale of Two Sisters.
"A Tale of Two Sisters" is the latest and most artistically realized horror film to come out of East Asia. A Tale of Two Sisters posted to www.marxmail.org on Produced in , "A Tale of Two Sisters" is the latest and most artistically realized horror film to come out of in the genre of "Ringu" and "Ju-On," which were made in . These sorts of films rely more on mood and psychological insight than on flashy special effects. It also shares with them a focus on the dysfunctional family and child abuse. The plot of "A Tale of Two Sisters" evokes classic Grimm fairy tales of children being victimized by a cruel elder. In this case, we are dealing with two teenaged sisters who have returned from an extended hospital stay to the country estate of their wealthy physician father and his sadistic new wife.
Under director Kim Jee-Woon's sure hands, the film grows creepier by the minute. It would seem that Kim Jee-Woon has a flair for macabre tales set in country estates. It is not clear whether the director's avoidance of special effects is driven by a tight budget or by style. Asian Canadian - Korean Creep-out Cinema! A TALE OF TWO SISTERS Opens in Toronto. Ultra 8 Pictures presents A TALE OF TWO SISTERS Director: JI-WOON KIM (SOUTH KOREA; 2003; 35MM; 115 min.; COLOR) Opening January 28th at The Royal Cinema and February 4 at The Paradise Cinema Visit www.festivalcinemas.com for showtimes Recent films hailing from the Far East such as Thailand's THE EYE and Japan's JU-ON and RINGU have contributed to the wave of Asian horror films that has washed over international critics and the general public alike (Hollywood's remakes of RINGU as THE RING and JU-ON as THE GRUDGE are undeniable proof of the genre's sudden wide appeal).
A TALE OF TWO SISTERS is the South Korean cousin of this twisted, eerie family of films. Two teenage sisters return to their Gothic countryside home, after being treated in a mental clinic following their mother's death. Check out the trailer for it here: Kim Jee-woon was born in Seoul in 1964. A Tale of Two Sisters - official website.
Taipei Times - A Tale of Two Sisters. Strictly speaking, A Tale of Two Sisters is more of a psycho-thriller than a horror or ghost film. After seeing the film, you cannot help but compare it with The Sixth Sense and The Others. Director Kim Ji-woon was introduced to Taiwanese audience through his slightly violent comedy, The Foul King (2000), about a frustrated office worker who reveals a violent part of his personality through wrestling. Kim made his second appearance in Taiwan in the three-segment film Three (2002), a Korea-Thai-Hong Kong co-production. Kim directed the first segment Memory. Those who found his previous efforts less than impressive, will be surprised by Kim's latest work, A Tale of Two Sisters.
Like Memory and Three, Two Sisters seeks to create a macabre and mysterious atmosphere. Two Sisters tells the story of Su-mi (Lim Su-jeong) and Su-yeon (Mun Geun-yeong), two sisters from a rich family. Back from the hospital, Su-mi starts a war against her step-mother. Film Notes: Directed by: Kim Ji-woon. DVD Times - A Tale of Two Sisters. The Film Based loosely on an old Korean folk tale that has been filmed no less than five times previously, Kim Jee-woon's A Tale of Two Sisters twists the source material more or less beyond recognition, keeping the father, stepmother and two daughters from the original but abandoning much of the rest. Rather than a literal adaptation, Kim's version is a successful attempt to update the story to a contemporary setting retaining the scary, sad and touching elements of the original. The film begins with sisters Su-mi (Im Soo-jung) and Su-yeon (Moon Geun-young) returning to their family home after an unspecified illness.
There is an unusually close bond between the siblings, and Su-mi is highly protective of her younger sister Su-yeon. It is soon revealed that this is due in part to the apparent abuse that Su-yeon suffers at the hands of their classically wicked stepmother (Yeom Jeong-ah). Contributing to the atmosphere of the film is the distinctive production design. The DVD Picture Sound.