I will start by saying that foreign films aren't my favorite (though Bicycle Thieves, The 400 Blows and Cinema Paradiso are among my favorite and best films of all time) but this one got such rave reviews, I had to try it out.
It is a slow burn of a film and you feel like you're almost watching a documentary. It is essentially a three person drama and mystery. Lee Jong-so (Yoo Ah-in) is a loner and incapable of answering a simple question when applying for jobs. But he's not dumb. I do wonder how he's able to live as his father is broke and in prison, facing some serious assault charges (a physical fight, not sexual) and he doesn't have a job.
His life is beyond boring (I know the feeling) until he starts to fall in love with his old classmate, Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo). But she returns from a trip with the rich and useless Ben (Steven Yeun) in tow. (Okay, he's not completely useless, Ben can cook.) Jongso even describes Ben as Mr. Gatsby, which couldn't be accurate.
Things finally start to get interesting when Hae-mi vanishes. The theories abound, but you know Ben is behind this twist of events. But Ben is murdered in the end, stabbed and then burned in his expensive Porsche at the hands of Jongso, who then completely strips down, including his boxers, tossing them to burn before driving away, and that's the end.
For the record, my theory on Ben (thanks to his box of women's make-up) is that he grooms these women, lost and in debt and sells them to North Korea, I don't fully know why, but I do. He doesn't seem the type that would get his hands dirty.
Now, while I have issues with the film, including the length (way too long), the performances were good and it forces you to pay attention and think, watching every little move to figure out what happened to Hae-mi. Grade: B+
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