I saw this film at the Berlinale 2013 within the Panorama section. Apart from stating that casting and acting are both very well done, also considering that most actors are newcomers in this trade, I'm still uncertain what I further want to say about this movie. An interesting theme that could have been exploited much better, was my first impulse after the screening.
Some surprising parts of the finale, however, make me wonder about having missed some important clues. Though I had hoped for a different, more positive outcome, we could have seen coming that a final suicide of the main character was imminent, if only to escape from imprisonment and maybe a death penalty. But why do we see in a flashback how his mates take turns in peeping through the key hole to see what he is doing with the imprisoned girl? The latter is kept for us until the very end, and it obviously intends to bring us a message. Can it be that he raped her anyway, in spite of his constant denial, hence his decision that a suicide is the only outcome possible??
These are two core scenes in the finale that pass by in a flash, while many preceding scenes take too long for their own good. As a result, I question the timing of the respective scenes. Or was I not paying enough attention, and was my mind wandering off during some earlier scenes that I felt taking too much time compared with what really happened??
Anyway, killing his three former mates is not justified by religion, in spite of him possibly believing that he does the right thing. From earlier sermons we see him attending, he should know that redemption, forgiveness and revenge are three totally different things. Anyway, we apparently could have expected it, firstly from the subtitle "Fatal" offered to us next to the original Korean title, and secondly from the synopsis on the festival website that steered us in the same (violent) direction. Also, a real happy-end finale is hardly imaginable with the given ingredients.
I can only hope that the above will help subsequent viewers in catching the things I probably missed.
Some surprising parts of the finale, however, make me wonder about having missed some important clues. Though I had hoped for a different, more positive outcome, we could have seen coming that a final suicide of the main character was imminent, if only to escape from imprisonment and maybe a death penalty. But why do we see in a flashback how his mates take turns in peeping through the key hole to see what he is doing with the imprisoned girl? The latter is kept for us until the very end, and it obviously intends to bring us a message. Can it be that he raped her anyway, in spite of his constant denial, hence his decision that a suicide is the only outcome possible??
These are two core scenes in the finale that pass by in a flash, while many preceding scenes take too long for their own good. As a result, I question the timing of the respective scenes. Or was I not paying enough attention, and was my mind wandering off during some earlier scenes that I felt taking too much time compared with what really happened??
Anyway, killing his three former mates is not justified by religion, in spite of him possibly believing that he does the right thing. From earlier sermons we see him attending, he should know that redemption, forgiveness and revenge are three totally different things. Anyway, we apparently could have expected it, firstly from the subtitle "Fatal" offered to us next to the original Korean title, and secondly from the synopsis on the festival website that steered us in the same (violent) direction. Also, a real happy-end finale is hardly imaginable with the given ingredients.
I can only hope that the above will help subsequent viewers in catching the things I probably missed.
