Janghwa, Hongryeon (2003)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Ji-woon Kim

Writer:

Ji-woon Kim (screenplay)

Release Date:

13 June 2003 (South Korea)

Genre:

Horror | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Our sorrow was conceived long before our birth

Plot:

A family is haunted by the tragedies of deaths within the family.

Plot Keywords:

Stepmother | Death | Ghost | Obsession | Guilt

Awards:

12 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Kap-su Kim	...	Bae Moo-hyeon (Father)
Jung-ah Yum	...	Eun-joo (Stepmother)
Su-jeong Lim	...	Bae Soo-mi (Janghwa)
Geun-Young Moon	...	Bae Soo-yeon (Hongryeon)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Seung-bi Lee	...	Mi-hee

Also Known As:

A Tale of Two Sisters (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
Rose and Lotus (South Korea) (informal literal English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence and disturbing images.

Runtime:

Korea:115 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Ireland:16 (original rating) | Ireland:18 (re-rating) (2005) | Malaysia:18SG (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (re-rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Peru:18 | Mexico:B15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Japan:PG-12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R | Sweden:15 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-18

Filming Locations:

Yuler-Myun, Bosung, Jeollanamdo, South Korea

Company:

B.O.M. Film Productions Co.

Trivia:

Ji-woon Kim originally wanted Gianna Jun to play Su-mi.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the hospital scenes, there is no scar on the back of Su-mi's hand.

Quotes:

Mi-hee: There was a girl under the kitchen sink.

Movie Connections:

Version of Janghwa Heungryeonjeon (1956)

See this masterpiece before Hollywood destroys it.

The recent history of Hollywood remakes of ghost/horror films from the East has been dismal. This film will inevitably suffer the same fate, so get a copy on e-bay or similar.

It is well photographed and the sound is superb. Viewing on a good screen and with a good 5.1 or DTS enabled sound system is recommended. Obviously it is subtitled, so if that puts you off, then I wouldn't bother with this. Dubbing rarely works and simply would not do here.

It is also genuinely frightening, with excellent performances from a cast who will be unfamiliar to Western audiences. I would particularly single out the stepmother character, who was utterly brilliant. The ending will have you wanting to watch it again, if you can cope. The plot is relentless, and offers no comforting moments of release along the way.

If I do have a small criticism, there is perhaps a detectable influence in certain scenes from the Japanese version of The Ring. We have, however, accepted straight copies of other peoples' ideas for Western films for years, and so my point is a limited one which did not prevent me from giving it 10/10. I believe most fans of this genre will derive huge "pleasure" from this film which I for one hope goes down as a classic.