A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
AKA: Janghwa Hongryeon, Rose Flower Red Lotus
Year: 2003
Directed by: Kim Jee-woon
Starring: Im Soo-jung (Su-mi), Moon Geun-young (Su-yeon), Yum Jung-ah (Eun-joo, the step-mom), Kim Kap-soo (Dad)
Country: South Korea, Asian Cinema
Language: Korean (English Subtitles)
Runtime: 01:54:31
Genres: Horror, Domestic Abuse, Siblings-Family
Plot – Spoilers:
Like a lot of Asian cinema, A Tale of Two Sisters is a rich experience in colours and aesthetics, apart from the fantastic horror.
Two sisters, Su-mi and Su-yeon, head to their countryside home and are greeted by their young step-mom, Eun-joo, who initially seems eager to please. Su-yeon who is younger, follows Su-mi’s cues and the new family’s dinner table interactions are awkward and tense with the girls hostile to step-mom while Dad remains distant and weary.
Su-yeon is weaker and more susceptible to intimidation and often complains of torment at the hands of Eun-joo when Su-mi is not around to protect her. As the hours and days pass, it becomes clear to all that something’s not right with the house and perhaps even Eun-joo.
The horror in A Tale of Two Sisters is sophisticated and though you might be familiar with many of the angles and jump moments, the rich visual imagery and beautiful music makes it refreshingly fresh for a movie that is over 15 years old.
Favourite Scenes:
Yum Jung-ah as Eun-joo is quite entertaining with her expressions when she goes through wild mood swings and the dinner conversation with her brother and sister-in-law is the best of them all.
movie thoughts:
(1) I think Sumi became her sister, and her stepmom to cope with the guilt. She feels responsible for the loss so she mentally portrayed her sister as an ongoing victim of the stepmom, to explain to herself why this all happened. The stepmom was definitely to blame for her sister’s death (she saw her trapped under the armoire and didn’t even attempt to help) and probably the mom’s su!c!de, and gaslit Sumi, and I feel sad that it’s culminated in Sumi having an identity crisis.
(2) even though they kept the dialogue with the father vague for plot twist purposes, he was such a shitty dad. He seemed to want to discard the past and viewed Sumi as a burden. Sumi’s “imagined” threat of being returned to the hospital & medicated into submission is real.
(3) Really good wardrobe styling & interior designs on set. Esp during the dinner scene.
(4) This movie reminds me of the Ju-On series, in that when something tragic happens in a specific house, the vengeful ghosts of the afflicted live on inside the walls.
(5) Also an iconic soundtrack!!!
friendly reminder.. always check out if u hear sounds.
Pathetic! It was more like watching extended episodes of a crappy TV series rather than an f’d up movie
Not bad.. Theres a certain gracefulness and artistic beauty that these kind of movies carry compared to most mainstream west/hollywood films.
Starts off a little slow but holy shit go in completely blind if possible very intense and probably one of the best films on the site 10/10
So happy to see this here. I think this is a classic of Korean horror. Not as fucked-up and debased as the other movies on this site, but it’s so good. Just the way that the wallpaper in the dining room changes, or the lighting in any given scene. It’s suffocating and scary. Thanks for hosting EUM.
nice movie, i’m usually not into paranormal movies, but this is actually different and i enjoyed it
Good Korean ghost story. Good twist at the end, paranormal horror without the violence and gore.