A story of revenge and despair Can one day be a nightmare for the rest of your life? How often do we have to take responsibility for the actions of others? What if you became a hostage to the sins of others, and now you live in eternal fear, waiting to meet the avenger? In short, this is the story of a man who plans to take revenge on the son of his daughter’s killer for seven years.
Very tense and atmospheric cinema, which captures from the first dramatic shots. Unlike the novel of the same name, where stories develop in parallel with each other and everything is in principle clear, the creators of the film adaptation went a slightly different way. And literally weaved from a number of storylines a real web, to unravel which uninitiated with the original viewer is simply impossible. One can wonder for a long time how these stories are connected to each other, but this confuses even more. The plot jumps from the end of the third story – to the middle of the second, then back forward – going back to the very beginning, then to the second – third – first, again to the second. There is no sense of connection whatsoever. This is despite the fact that I had read the novel before, and in principle knew all its background. What can we say about the viewer who does not know this dramatic story at all?
The film, like the novel, raises many questions. Fatherly duty and the possibility of redemption, child abuse and acute psychological trauma, retribution and how far a person can go in seeking revenge. In the East, the son is always responsible for the sins of his father, no matter how perfect his offspring may be. And as it does not seem to us this story is far-fetched, it is necessary to better understand the mentality of the East.
The filmmakers introduced a considerable share of the mystical component into it, further enhancing the effect of drama and mystery. So, having plunged into the lake of sensations, getting out of it becomes not so easy. On the one hand, it bribes. It’s not often you see movies that hold your attention. On the other hand, the monotony of the techniques, besides the feeling that the filmmakers are constantly fooling you, increasingly whipping up the atmosphere and not even giving a hint of any answers. In films like this, the ending doesn't matter, but the intensity, the idea, taken to the extreme. You get lost in anticipation of the most dramatic ending. And when near the end, it seems that the story has finally come to a logical conclusion, the creators again “play” with their viewer.
In an effort to influence the viewer, Chu Chang-min used a number of proven effective techniques when working on the film. Like that well in which Father Heyong-so was drowned long ago, or the ghost of a dead girl, a flooded village, a lot of symbolic objects... All this we have already seen in the “Bell”, the atmosphere of which, by the way, the director is trying to recreate his own creation. Significantly transforming Jung Yoo-jung's novel. Although in the case of the classics of horror, history took alive its line of investigation, coupled with a fair share of mysticism. Realizing that the entire detective line in our case lies on the surface, the director deliberately tried to confuse it, but it turned out a real pun. And the mysticism itself - did not look right, and, by the way, did not explain. And if initially it had a quite effective effect, then it was more likely to tire.
7 out of 10