HEROIC-CINEMA'S REVIEW:
This rather sweet Korean flick shows the effect of the
Korean government's decision to stimulate their film industry by
pouring money into it (and setting quotas, and whatever else).
It's polished, entertaining, intriguing, has some nice CGI
effects, and is generally a professional piece of work.
The story is simple: a "suicide squad" of ghosts
(because suicides can't go to heaven) recruits new members into a
sort of post-existential pyramid scheme of retribution. We follow
the main character, a girl deceived by her fiance, as she is
pushed into suicide, and share her confusion as she meets the gang
and is introduced to the system. This thin plot allows for a
meandering course through themes of justice, forgiveness, and
revenge: our girl is pushed and pulled by others, and it's easy to
empathise with her desire for revenge, as well as her
squeamishness and reluctance to "go all the way" and top
the guy as she is (virtually) ordered.
In spite of the simple storyline, interest is maintained
throughout, probably because of the characters. Each character
gets their time in the sun, and so we're treated to little
vignettes that give us insight into the situation of each ghost.
Pale Face, a girl who killed herself after being gang-raped in
front of her boyfriend, is surprisingly lucid and friendly, and I
got quite a kick out of the way she frocked up in white negligee,
with long hair and full gothic makeup for "work" and
cruised around in a power suit the rest of the time.Similarly, the
first character that we see, pre-suicide, is a fat girl who comes
to be called Diet, who dons the power suit for working hours
(she's a Team Leader) and gets about in a tracksuit for casuals.
Then there's the water ghost who pops up (quite literally) now and
again, wibbling around and making his wet presence felt.
One aspect that stood out for me was the confounding of
stereotypes: time and again, I'd think I had a character safely
pigeonholed, and then they'd do something that contradicted my
expectations. Not the hero, of course: he was a hero first, last
and always. Good guys are always good, whatever happens, right?
But most of the others seemed to wriggle around within the
confines of their character definitions to do things that
surprised me. And that's always good: there's nothing more tedious
than watching a movie when you know exactly what's going to
happen.
If I had to categorise it, I'd put it in the "chick
flick" box, because of the sweet undertone and the moral
dilemmas, but then again it contains elements of drama, romance,
action, and CGI fantasy. It manages to be all of these and none,
but there's one certainty: it's a damned entertaining film.
Rating: 8 water ghosts out of 10.
Reviewed by Alison Jobling
|
