A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

- Janghwa, Hongryeon
Beautiful, 4 June 2005

It would be easy to dismiss A Tale of Two Sisters as being like The Sixth Sense or The Others. But that would be a mistake. Yes, there are plot similarities, but A Tale of Two Sisters is immanently more re-watchable. Where the other two movies suffer after you know the twist, A Tale of Two Sisters screams out for repeat viewings. The twist here is more involving, for a lack of a better word. There's just so much here to get your mind around that it's all but impossible to do with one viewing. I'm already looking forward to watching it again.

A Tale of Two Sisters is a hauntingly beautiful film. During several scenes I realized I had a real sense of unease. The characters are so easy to sympathize with that it's hard not to have these feelings when one of them faces danger. The setting adds a lot to the movies atmosphere. The big house with its many dark rooms makes an ideal location for this type of movie. The cinematography is simply stunning. The music, although sparse, fits the film nicely.

Even though I've never seen any of the actors in this movie before (and I doubt I ever will again), the performances are first rate. The two standouts are Su-jeong Lim and Jung-ah Yum. Lim, as the terrified daughter, is a character that I found it extremely easy to feel empathy for. It's amazing to watch her various transformations throughout the movie. And Yum plays the wicked stepmother role to perfection. She's an easy character to root against.

I haven't seen many Korean films (in fact, this is probably the only one I've ever seen), but I'm looking forward to discovering more.

8/10