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A Tale Of Two Sisters
2003
Following the death of their mother, sisters Su-mi and Su-yeon are sent to convalesce in a mental hospital. When they are released, they are greeted by their father and taken home. Once there, it becomes obvious that this isn't the wholesome family unit that the girls' new step mother wishes it was. On their first night home, .. Read more
| Starring | Lim Su-Jeong |
|---|---|
| Director | Kim Jee-Woon |
| Genres | Horror, World Cinema |
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A Tale Of Two Sisters
Following the death of their mother, sisters Su-mi and Su-yeon are sent to convalesce in a mental hospital. When they are released, they are greeted by their father and taken home. Once there, it becomes obvious that this isn't the wholesome family unit that the girls' new step mother wishes it was. On their first night home, disturbing and seemingly unexplainable events - footsteps on the stairs, doors opening of their own accord - begin to occur, and strange hallucinations plague the family.
It soon becomes impossible to tell whether it is the sisters' unstable mental health, the cruel mind games played by the step mother, or the dark presence of a supernatural force which is at work within the house. Stylish and shocking, this visually arresting tale of family secrets and uncertain realities is based on a traditional Korean folk tale. Guaranteed to have you gasping for breath with each successive scare, you'll be kept guessing until the very end of this unique and brilliant film.
| Starring | Lim Su-Jeong |
|---|---|
| Director | Kim Jee-Woon |
| Studio | PALISADES TARTAN |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 55 mins Blu-ray: 1 hr 50 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Horror, World Cinema |
| Language | Korean |
| Subtitles | English |
| Released | DVD: 22 Nov 2004 Blu-ray: unknown Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003)
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Critics' reviews (4)
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South Korean film-maker Kim Ji-woon's atmospheric gothic horror may not be the most original tale, but with its vivid, colour-saturated visuals, it's certainly among the most beautiful. Like his segment Memories in the 2002 anthology Three, the feature gives a contemporary twist to a traditional Far Eastern ghost story, here using an old Korean folk tale as his guide. This is an eerie account of two sisters (Moon Geun-young and Im Soo-jung), who return home after a long psychiatric illness, only to grow increasingly fearful of their strange new stepmother. Yet for all its derivative elements, the meticulous direction and cinematography lend the picture a sense of freshness compared with its western counterparts. It's glossy and sophisticated, and although the final quarter becomes confusing, the consistently strong performances help keep one's attention firmly fixed.
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Based on an Korean folk tale, this creepy psychological horror creates a pervasive sense of dread, which remains even after the unsatisfactory denouement.
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Most helpful member's review
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32 out of 43 people found this review helpful
A Great Drama with some good scares
OK, so the trailer for this movie makes it seem like more of an action horror,but you can't judge a movie by its misleading trailer (lol).
I rated this 5 stars soley on my opinion, as its the best movie ive seen in the past three years. Its hard to describe this film without giving away any of the several twists the film takes. Admitted, the film intentionally confuses you over and over to make you think your not seeing what in fact you very well could be. Two sisters, after being released from hospital return to there father and rather nasty stepmother (a nurse, who the father met while his first wife, the sisters mother, was getting treatment at a hospital for what i assume was cancer)
On the first sleepless night back strange noises and visions plauge the sisters,not to mention the mental torment the step mother places on them, whats going on at the house? what happened at the house while the sisters were recouperating the trauma of their mothers death? What happened in the wardrobe of su-yeons (one of the sisters) room? The movie is quite slow-paced, but this gives time for character build ups, and it also gives you time to think about what youve just seen,although you wont know everything until the end credits. The film not only has a brilliant script (which must have been freaking HARD to write), but the cinematography (cool, i got to use that word!) is beautiful, wide angle shots of a bright sunny countryside, mixed with slow moving eerie shots of dark corridors,added with the usual classical music which fits perfectly.
If your not really a fan of Dramas or movies where you put the pieces together at the end to properly understand, i would leave this be, but if you are, AND you also like to see some disturbing horror shocks in your movies, then this is one for you. Absolutley Brilliant movie, without a doubt one of the best of recent times. -
Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
More quality from the Far East.
A Tale Of Two Sisters (Jangwa, Hongryeon) is a South Korean movie which I have been meaning to see for some time after gaining some very favourable reviews in the UK media upon it's DVD release last year.
Narrative wise this film has a lot in common with the excellent Sixth Sense and The Others with the style of The Grudge, the film is very slow moving with a few 'jumpy' moments, but is more about building a story than scaring the life out of you..
One masssive difference between this film and Sixth Sense,Others etc is that the plot outcome isn't as clear cut as those films, you will be scratching your head for the last 15 minutes and probably during the credits as I was, but don't put this down as a critiscm, I mean, Donnie Darko had a huge preportion of it's audience perplexed for some time after it's release in 2003! -
News and features
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The Good, the Bad, the Weird: Ji-woon Kim interview
- 07 Feb 2009
Korean director Ji-woon Kim is best known in the west for the small but perfectly formed horror, A Tale of Two Sisters. That's about to change, however, with the release of his latest film, noodle western The Good, the Bad, the Weird, which just happens to have the largest budget of any live action film in Korean history. As the title would suggest, The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a remake of Sergio Leone's spaghetti western masterpiece The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but given an Asian... Read more
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Tale Of Two Sisters, A - BLU-RAY Version
Following the death of their mother, sisters Su-mi and Su-yeon are sent to a mental hospital, upon release they come home. Soon after their homecoming, strange, eerie events begin to take place- is it a result of the sisters' mental health....
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- A Tale Of Two Sisters
- DVD: £7.93
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Following the death of their mother, sisters Su-mi and Su-yeon are sent to convalesce in a mental hospital. When they are released, they are greeted by their father and taken home. Once there, it ... -