Movies rarely offer much in the way of innovation, which isn’t a new thing itself, filmmakers copying others (and sometimes themselves) since the first movies were released. Remakes, reboots, restarts, re-whatever you want call them are just a thing in movieland, and I don’t have much of problem with that, actually. If I don’t want to watch something, heck, I won’t watch it. A cool thing about this re-do thing though is that movies in different languages can get a second or third or more lives when re-shot with a different set of actors for a different audience. You’d probably be surprised in fact how often that happens. I mean, think about it. Maybe even your favorite movie began life as a film made years before in a country halfway around the world.
Anyway, where am I going with this? Right. The Call. So here we are with this new South Korean film, a smart thriller from director Lee Chung-hyun, that is a re-interpretation of The Caller, a 2011 Puerto Rican and British film by Matthew Parkhill. And it’s a good one, perhaps even better than the original, an atmospheric chiller with some subtle yet creative visual effects, a pair of strong performances, a clever twist, and yes, that typical South Korean trend in drama for things to go super duper dark.
The story is set in modern times, when a young woman named Kim Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) heads to the countryside to visit her sickly mother Eun-ae (Kim Sung-ryung). She lives in a large western style home that is, in its present condition, a bit unkempt. There is some bad blood between them stemming from an incident involving Seo-yeon’s now dead father, though we don’t know what that is yet. However, on the way to the house, Seo-yeon lost her smartphone, and so, finds an old portable landline phone in the house to use. Weirdly though, she begins to receive calls from a very distressed young woman on the other end who makes some startling claims of abuse, crying for help. With a little investigation, Seo-yeon realizes that she is actually talking to Oh Young-sook (Jeon Jong-seo), who is living in the same house but … and here’s the catch, in 1999, some twenty years ago. Seo-yeon is talking to a girl in the past.
This sort of thing is not a new idea of course, plenty of movie plots center on people communicating in some way with the past (or future). I think the filmmakers here understood that as well, and so, invested more into the characters and the use of that communication than just the gimmick of it all with the relationship between Seo-yeon and Young-sook one that seems productive at first before becoming something else entirely. Now, I’m not going to spoil much, I hope, but it’s an obvious start that certainly, the fate of Seo-yeon’s father comes into play and how Young-sook, living in the past, might be able to affect some meaningful change for Seo-yeon. And you can bet that happens. The tightrope we walk here though is what is actually happening to Young-sook by her stepmother, who we see is a practicing shaman with some genuine concerns about her step-daughter. Indeed, we gather up a few concerns ourselves.
I like the way the film keeps its timelines easily identifiable, with adjustments in hairstyles and such visual clues where and when we are, not too mention some fun with set design and great attention to detail in coloring the years around the turn of the century. Anyone having been around then will certainly have some fun thinking, “Hey, I remember that.” What’s nice is that it’s not paraded in front us in such a way as to feel forced, just you know, natural. That makes the world Oh Young-sook lives in all the more believable. Honestly, this is a great looking movie and the people in charge of establishing the past and juggling the differences between then and now is really great and admittedly fun to watch.
As for the film itself, there are a few jolts I guess, here and there, but I wouldn’t call this a horror film. More of a psychological mystery. it’s kinda fun to try and piece it all together and guess where it is going. The movie does a pretty decent job of steering you in one direction before jumping tracks. I will say that a few decisions – especially by Seo-yeon – are not what I would have made, including a crucial moment that I think should have been the killer moment if you’ll forgive the wording, but becomes just a misfire for her. Either way, there are some genuinely good sequences that make great use of the premise and the nature of the relationship between these women. You’ll find yourself truly feeling a bit of tension as to the fate of one of them.
And this leads us to the finale, one that the filmmakers worked hard to get to, even if I feel the efforts to get their might have been in the hands of the wrong character. Either way, you have to stay for the credits as things continue midway through the roll of names behind the film. What we see is entirely unexpected and I have to say, I’m not sure where I stand on it, even knowing how many South Korean films of this genre tend to be. I hesitate to say cop-out, because that’s not really the meaning I’m after, but I felt pretty disturbed nonetheless. That may be a good thing simply because, well, I was still thinking about the movie after it was over. If you’re a fan of Korean movies, this is a definite yes. Recommended.