After an unresponsive Su-mi finally responds to her psychiatrist holding up a picture of her family, she is brought back home with her quiet younger sister, Su-yeon. Tensions are high, as Su-mi tries to adjust but comes into continual conflict with her rigid stepmother Eun-joo, dreams of disturbing images and witnesses strange things around the household. It soon appears that Eun-joo is tormenting Su-yeon out of hatred for the two girls, while their father simply ignores the problems erupting in front of him, so it is up to Su-mi to protect her sister.
Based on an old Korean folk tale of the abuses suffered by two girls at the hands of their stepmother, A Tale of Two Sisters reworks the story into a psychological thriller complete with pale, longhaired ghosts, cryptic disturbing images and latent family issues lurking beneath the surface. Director Kim Ji-woon, however, does not turn this into typical Asian horror. The film is creepy at all times not only because of its deliberate camera angles and moody production design, but because Kim plays with the timing of scares. Oftentimes, the anticipation of a loud jump-out-of-your-seat moment is more terrifying than the fulfillment of it.
There is also an unspoken depth to all the characters, but this isn’t your typical domestic drama either. People unexpectedly go into intense convulsions. Blood and body parts randomly appear. Strange entities lurk in the shadows. Dialogue is often vague. Some viewers may be utterly baffled, checking wikipedia or considering a new film during the first half as these unexplained oddities slowly build up, but satisfying, understated revelations eventually help to justify the ambiguity. The solid performances of the four leads, especially Im Su-jeong as Su-mi, also keep the viewer wrapped up in the drama during the few times the story may lose its hold. For the most part though, A Tale of Two Sisters is an elegantly constructed cinematic experience that qualifies it as a very memorable entry in the genre, if not a classic.
Reviewed by Tarun
