Prashast Singh
Movie: The Wailing (15): Horror - KoreanPositives:The screenplay is brilliantly written with no major flaws to deviate you.The film's really scary at times and it succeeds as a horror thriller.Kwak Do-won's performance is a major highlight. Chun Woo-hee is also very impressive, as are Hwang Jung-min and Kunimura Jun.The cinematography is excellent and the film's technical aspects are strong.The unpredictability of the film is what makes it thought-provoking and memorable.The ending is as mindblowing as it is unpredictably excellent.Negatives:Well, not any.Repeat value: YesWithout a second thought, I can say that THE WAILING by Na Hong-jin is undoubtedly the best horror film of the decade, as it proves to be much more than a horror film and delivers something which not every film of this genre has. The film is unforgettable and you definitely won't be able to forget it.
NormanCroucher
'The Wailing' takes you by the hand and leads you deep into the woods. This is a South Korean horror film that doesn't actually reveal that it is a horror film until it is deep into the wilderness of its story. It melds folklore, cultural superstitions and religious mythology to explore themes of faith and fear, and how ultimate evil can be seen as something akin to a virus that infects and consumes, before moving onto the next host.This is a deeply fascinating mood piece that recalls the brooding atmosphere of Bong Joon-ho's 'Memories of Murder' and the enigmatic mysteries of Michael Haneke's 'Hidden', with spectacular scenery as the backdrop to some gruesome goings-on. What starts off like a pretty standard procedural investigative thriller goes through a remarkable metamorphosis across its (fairly lengthy) runtime. In a nutshell: A bumbling but endearing small town cop begins investigating a series of crimes that point to some kind of homicidal hysteria sweeping through his community, and all roads lead to a mysterious stranger who has taken up residence in the local woodlands. That's all you need to know going in and, to be honest, that's all you really know for sure coming out. The story winds its way through to some pretty unexpected and unsettling places, but spends its first half hour setting-up the foundations of an intriguing mystery while also being surprisingly funny, and it is this quirky humour that lulls the viewer into a false sense of security as a result. The comedy soon dies out and the disquiet sets in, plus the authentic performances from the cast keep it all grounded and lend the whole experience a reality, no matter how bizarre events get.There are answers in the film as to what is happening, why it is happening and who is orchestrating things and to what end, but the film has been intentionally designed to obfuscate any sense of certainty. Even when things are being explained, nothing is explained. Even when it feels like we are witnessing revelation, nothing is revealed. Writer/director Na Hong-jin wants us to work hard in order to drink from the well of deeper meaning. He is indeed exploring the notions of evil as a disease, superstition as a science, and faith as simple perception. In fact, he makes the supernatural somewhat prosaic, which calls into question how we are viewing events and how much of it is real, how much of it is magic, and how much is simply allegory and metaphor for the filmmaker's own spiritual discourse. Either way, whatever it all means, Na Hong-jin expertly unravels the tale at a methodical pace, like bait danging on a hook in the water until we bite and he reels us in with expert timing. But, much like a fish literally out of water, it's a bewildering and confounding experience at the end of the line. I am uncertain if the confusion is partly a symptom of the somewhat muddled plotting or if the ambiguity was perhaps an afterthought (the film apparently was in the editing room for a year and intentionally cut out some context), but it doesn't really matter all that much since the overall experience is so spellbinding.The closing moments, as with many scenes in the film, are both despairingly fatalistic and thought-provoking, and I guarantee almost anyone who watches it will jump on Google at their earliest convenience and type in: 'The Wailing explained'. You'll find theories, ideas, interviews and reviews on there, and gorging yourself on the thoughts of others might help edify your mind, but nothing will comfort your soul once you've looked into the eyes of the devil.
