I can't stop thinking about this movie and it's been 24 hours since I've seen it. I find myself replaying the movie in my head over and over. I find myself reflecting on the themes that it tries to bring to the surface.
Easily, this goes down as one of the best horror movies I've watched. On the second thought, it's one of the best movies I had the pleasure of watching! It's smart, it's clever and it's beautiful! Words that you won't actually use to describe typical horror movies. What makes "GOKSUNG" transcend its genre is that it has so many layers but each one is as potent as the other. Like an onion, some audience will walk away only having seen the outer layer but would feel as satisfied as the next audience who was able to see through all its layers.
I was taken aback when I read the message boards and reviews where critics and moviegoers weren't actually too sure if they understood the movie correctly. I've read reviews where they view the film as a social commentary between the divide between Japanese and Koreans, others view the film as a genuinely creepy horror movie, others view it from the tragedy that it is, others saw it as a spiritual exploration. And I was thoroughly surprised by this because I didn't see the ending as an abstract one. To me, it left very little to the interpretation.
But to better understand this, I had to search through interviews of the director (Hong Jin Na) on what he wants the viewers to take away with them. It helped a lot how the film came to be. He started writing the script of the movie when a series of deaths started happening to his friends/family members. Though he didn't elaborate, he termed the deaths as "unnatural" which leaves me to think they were murdered. Grieved with the loss of his friends, he started asking "why them?". It brought him to a journey asking different religions to somehow demystify it. This movie was a result of that exploration.
In some ways, the movie tries to answer that. Jong Goo, the "hero" of the movie, asked the same question several times but there's really no special reason behind it. The stranger did not choose them, it just so happened his daughter took the bait (now think back to the first frame of the movie where the stranger was seen fishing, putting a bait on the hook brilliant!) We often try to search for a deeper meaning into bad things that happens to us. To devout catholics, it's the guilt that it's punishment for sins we have committed. But in the end, we really don't have anyone but to blame but ourselves. It is within our will not to give in to the temptation/bait but sometimes we just do because we don't see through the events that will be set in motion. We often times act in haste thinking our actions doesn't have consequences.
The movie forces us to evaluate who brings unspeakable tragedies into this world. Should we blame the devil for laying down the trap? Or should we blame ourselves for being too blind to see it? I think this point was the one that resonated with me: people in this day and age have become desensitized with evil that we rarely think that the devil is real in a physical sense. There's that unbelief in the supernatural that it has no place in our reality. Just like Jong Goo who had heard of (he charged it to village rumours) and seen the Devil (he thought he was a serial killer, nothing more) before but never really understood what he was up against. Several times, he was also given a warning to stay away from the tragic path he was walking into (through his dreams and the most blatant one, to wait for the third crow of the roosters) but alas, Jong Goo relied on what was logical in our reality. It's more logical and easier to believe that our nightmares can never happen in the real world. It's more logical to rush back home when your family is in danger. It's more logical to believe in a religious figure (priest/shaman) than a woman you suspect is a ghost. And that same unbelief is the very tool that the devil uses against us.
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." --- The Usual Suspects
This movie is loaded with symbolisms, parallels and commentaries but never once did it hinder the narrative. It even enriched the movie, making three hours seem like two! The director's control over the whole movie is just masterful. To achieve a tonal balance between humour and horror is an achievement by itself but add to that, a movie that works on so many levels this movie is a master filmmaker who understands how to "talk" to his audience, what buttons to push to make them think and to make them feel.
Hong Jin Na leaves the audience with this: Whatever ideas come to you while you watch the film, they're yours. I want this film to be your own. On the other hand, there is one thing I wish everyone who watches this film to feel, regardless of who they are: a condolence for those who disappeared after having fallen as victims of the world. And for those who are left behind, I sincerely wish this film gives you some time for condolences.
Easily, this goes down as one of the best horror movies I've watched. On the second thought, it's one of the best movies I had the pleasure of watching! It's smart, it's clever and it's beautiful! Words that you won't actually use to describe typical horror movies. What makes "GOKSUNG" transcend its genre is that it has so many layers but each one is as potent as the other. Like an onion, some audience will walk away only having seen the outer layer but would feel as satisfied as the next audience who was able to see through all its layers.
I was taken aback when I read the message boards and reviews where critics and moviegoers weren't actually too sure if they understood the movie correctly. I've read reviews where they view the film as a social commentary between the divide between Japanese and Koreans, others view the film as a genuinely creepy horror movie, others view it from the tragedy that it is, others saw it as a spiritual exploration. And I was thoroughly surprised by this because I didn't see the ending as an abstract one. To me, it left very little to the interpretation.
But to better understand this, I had to search through interviews of the director (Hong Jin Na) on what he wants the viewers to take away with them. It helped a lot how the film came to be. He started writing the script of the movie when a series of deaths started happening to his friends/family members. Though he didn't elaborate, he termed the deaths as "unnatural" which leaves me to think they were murdered. Grieved with the loss of his friends, he started asking "why them?". It brought him to a journey asking different religions to somehow demystify it. This movie was a result of that exploration.
In some ways, the movie tries to answer that. Jong Goo, the "hero" of the movie, asked the same question several times but there's really no special reason behind it. The stranger did not choose them, it just so happened his daughter took the bait (now think back to the first frame of the movie where the stranger was seen fishing, putting a bait on the hook brilliant!) We often try to search for a deeper meaning into bad things that happens to us. To devout catholics, it's the guilt that it's punishment for sins we have committed. But in the end, we really don't have anyone but to blame but ourselves. It is within our will not to give in to the temptation/bait but sometimes we just do because we don't see through the events that will be set in motion. We often times act in haste thinking our actions doesn't have consequences.
The movie forces us to evaluate who brings unspeakable tragedies into this world. Should we blame the devil for laying down the trap? Or should we blame ourselves for being too blind to see it? I think this point was the one that resonated with me: people in this day and age have become desensitized with evil that we rarely think that the devil is real in a physical sense. There's that unbelief in the supernatural that it has no place in our reality. Just like Jong Goo who had heard of (he charged it to village rumours) and seen the Devil (he thought he was a serial killer, nothing more) before but never really understood what he was up against. Several times, he was also given a warning to stay away from the tragic path he was walking into (through his dreams and the most blatant one, to wait for the third crow of the roosters) but alas, Jong Goo relied on what was logical in our reality. It's more logical and easier to believe that our nightmares can never happen in the real world. It's more logical to rush back home when your family is in danger. It's more logical to believe in a religious figure (priest/shaman) than a woman you suspect is a ghost. And that same unbelief is the very tool that the devil uses against us.
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." --- The Usual Suspects
This movie is loaded with symbolisms, parallels and commentaries but never once did it hinder the narrative. It even enriched the movie, making three hours seem like two! The director's control over the whole movie is just masterful. To achieve a tonal balance between humour and horror is an achievement by itself but add to that, a movie that works on so many levels this movie is a master filmmaker who understands how to "talk" to his audience, what buttons to push to make them think and to make them feel.
Hong Jin Na leaves the audience with this: Whatever ideas come to you while you watch the film, they're yours. I want this film to be your own. On the other hand, there is one thing I wish everyone who watches this film to feel, regardless of who they are: a condolence for those who disappeared after having fallen as victims of the world. And for those who are left behind, I sincerely wish this film gives you some time for condolences.