Joyong-han saesang (2006) Reviews

• "No! No! I don't believe it! Don't ... oh no ... Hey! Great shot!"

  sitenoise2008-07-15

  When I saw the poster for this movie of the two guys and the girl with the big red clown lips painted on her face I said, "That's messed up, that's freaky. What's that all about?" World of Silence, a.k.a. Missing Girl, is a classic who-dunnit mystery/suspense/thriller/melodrama drama/buddy cop comedy from South Korea. At its heart, it's the story of a world weary cop, and his goof-ball partner, investigating a series of murders of young orphaned girls who appear to have been tripping on non-indigenous magic mushrooms and otherwise treated very well before their deaths. No visible signs of trauma. Woven into that is the story of a man who possesses extra-sensory abilities and a constantly unfolding history of sadness and loss who, coincidentally or not, appears ahead of the cops at each of the crime scenes and who, as plot would have it, takes custody of a young orphaned girl with a very plot specific special disease. More reviews at sitenoise-atthemovies.blogspot.com This film is sprinkled with throw-popcorn-at-the-screen, Crime and Punishment style coincidences and delivered with a controlled ominousness worthy of Brian De Palma and General Hospital. The more films I see from South Korea the more I see that this kind of mixed genre bag is quite common. It might take a little patience and getting used to, but when it's as well executed as World of Silence it's a very fulfilling film experience. I hesitate to throw melodrama into the mix because it often conjures up associations of chick-flick, which this flick is certainly not, and in the capable hands of director Ui-seok Jo melodrama is a key ingredient, used almost as a heat check, a dare, alongside mystery elements and light-hearted humor to keep the audience engaged. Despite a few groan-out-loud-inducing plot moves and a few eye-rollers to boot, I loved this movie. The performances are all top-notch. Yong-woo Park (My Scary Girl) plays the world-weary detective with a cynical sense of humor, unkempt hair, and a cool leather jacket. Sang-kyung Kim, who played that role in Memories of Murder, plays the mystery man here. A very pleasant surprise is the uncredited young girl who plays the orphan Soo-yeon Park. She is adorably able to transform her screen presence from sad orphaned girl whose father died in a car accident and whose mother's been in a coma for two years but described to her as having a really bad cold and needing to take a really long nap, a nap that Soo-yeon hopes she will awake from in time to attend her upcoming talent show, to a smiling and feeling loved 3rd grader in the length of a breath. World of Silence peels off layer upon layer, uncovering about five film's worth of internal demons and other dramatic tragedies, but it ends, and it seems to end a few times, like a famous sportscaster screaming "No! No! I don't believe it! Don't ..." and then "Great shot!" when it goes in.

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• Too many ingredients, but also too many questions. Definitely not a staple of the Korean thriller film

  dreist2016-03-21

  As a great lover and fanatic Korean thriller watching this World of Silence it was pretty much a MUST for myself. Unlike the Americans or British thriller that is earnest and focus only on a single direction, as Korean instead almost always are mixed and used too many ingredients, drama, comedy, melodrama etc .... this feature has always characterized the Korean film making it the most original, just not always the "mix too" comes out well And it is the case of World of Silence that he wanted to focus on too many things and leaving many more pending. For example, not much is known of the past of the characters, and I am referring especially to the mysterious character Ryu it would not hurt to deepen more, in fact, leaves the viewer a number of questions including the most important one concerning the suicide of his former girlfriend, in short scene that practically appears at the beginning of the film. The parties (say) a comic appearing ridiculous little, beautiful instead scuffle in public toilets metro which is pretty cool, the melodramatic part rather acceptable. Finally, by analyzing the part thriller (which is the main focus of the film) I can say that enough suspense and gives to those who are greedy of thrillers like me, will soon understand who the murderess. On this I got it to first shot I would not negatively condemn this film anyway because some find they are not bad and the acting of the characters is very credible (including an excellent Han Bo-Bae), just that compared to the numerous thrillers released in Korea from 2000 to date, no I consider it a great value and great film thickness, because despite everything there is, paradoxically, something is missing ...

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