MOVIE REVIEW
Epitaph (2007)
TLA Releasing
Since its release last year, “Epitaph” – directed by newcomers
the Jung Brothers – has screened at several film festivals and been
heralded by critics as the best Korean horror film since the 2003
masterpiece “A Tale of Two Sisters.” If the latter is true, it
surely says more about the floundering state of Asian horror than about
the quality of “Epitaph,” an overly-contrived and confusing anthology
film revived only by its gorgeous aesthetic sensibilities.
An anthology format will always be a risky undertaking, because the film will only be as strong as its weakest link. “Epitaph”
manages to strike a nice balance in the tones of its three stories,
each dealing with the fragility of love and life in chaotic times. The
framing story begins in 1979, with an old doctor reminiscing about his
tenure as a medical student at Anseng Hospital during the Japanese
occupation in 1942. Student Jung-nam (Jin Goo) is arranged to be married to the
daughter of the hospital’s director, whom he hasn’t seen since she was
a child. In the weeks before the wedding, he’s assigned to overnight
morgue duty and falls in love with the frozen corpse of a beautiful
girl. As Jung-nam lavishes attention on the girl – talking to her,
drawing her picture – she begins to thaw and tries to return the favor.
At the same time in the strongest tale, a little girl, Asako (Ko Joo-yeon), is
admitted to the hospital covered in blood from the car accident that
has killed her mother and stepfather. Her doctor, Soo-in (Kim Dong-kyu), discovers
that Asako has miraculously escaped the wreckage without physical
injury, but she is constantly besieged with violent visions of her
parents. Finally, married doctors Im-young (Kim Bo-kyung) and Dong-won (Kim Tae-woo) investigate the
murder of a Japanese soldier, which matches the modus operandi of a
suspected serial killer. Dong-won becomes concerned that his wife is
working too hard on this case when he notices that she no longer
casts a shadow.
This synopsis no doubt makes the film sound more coherent than it
actually is, since the timelines and characters of the stories overlap
in a way that makes it impossible to make sense of the events. It has
become an annoyingly predictable part of recent Korean horror films for
the plot to start unraveling somewhere in the second act, then
completely give way to a series of barely connected images, ridiculous
plot twists (enough already with the unreliable narrators!) and
pretentious attempts at tackling complex human issues. But since it
offers no scary moments that would surprise even a casual fan of the
genre, it is the sheer quality of the spectacle that makes “Epitaph”
compelling. The Jung Brothers frame up compositions worthy of still
images or ancient portraiture. The gleaming, polished wood of Anseng
Hospital, beautiful period details and elaborate presentational set
pieces are hopefully enough eye candy to distract the viewer from the
otherwise dull and muddled stories.
Besides the expert cinematography, performances are strong
throughout, particularly in the second segment, and none of the tales
feel thematically out of place. With “Epitaph,” the Jung Brothers
have proven themselves to be imaginative and skillful directors and
considerably less successful screenwriters. If style over substance is
the best that Korean horror has to offer perhaps “epitaph” is an apt
description of its place in the genre.
EPITAPH
Written (in Korean with English subtitles) and directed by Jung Bum-Sik and Jung Sik; director of photography, Yun Nam-joo; edited by Kim Sang-beom; production designers, Kim Yu-jeong and Lee Min-bok;
produced by Jang So-jung; released by TLA Releasing. Running time: 1
hour 38 minutes.
WITH: Kim Bo-kyung (Kim In-young), Kim Tae-woo (Kim Dong-won), Jin Goo (Park Jung-nam), Kim Dong-kyu (Dr. Lee Soo-in) and Ko Joo-yeon (Asako).
Comments