I watched The Wailing on the back of strong critical response, a rarity for horror films. Unfortunately I was left a little conflicted.
The film's premise is a mix of tropes (possession, good vs. evil, religious mythology), and its slow-burn narrative is set in a relatively poor, rural village in South Korea.
The tone the movie strikes at first is one of slapstick and black-comedy. The local police are incompetent, unfit and seemingly terrified of everything. I laughed quite a few times throughout. We get little character development; these aren't complicated people. The lead protagonist, Jong-goo, has about as much depth as a petri dish, and - work-shy and cowardly - doesn't inspire much sympathy.
Then there's a jarring tonal shift towards seriousness. Seeing Jong-goo distraught over the mystery sickness his daughter is plagued by didn't move me at all, because the goings-on up until that point had been dealt with so flippantly and the characters were painted as comic foils contrasting with the horrific murders. Why would we care about what's happening to these people, when they've been painted as two- dimensional and foolish?
The film's final half-an-hour redeemed it somewhat. I'd predicted the twist that the Japanese man was wrongly vilified and was trying to save the village, so when the shaman confirmed it, I was disappointed by how obvious it had been. But then it turned out to be a bluff! Which took me by surprise. He's evil after all. The ending was particularly strong; tragic, but poignant, with some allegorical revelations.
The characters make some strange decisions throughout. Why, when Jong-goo discovered the Japanese man had a shrine with photographs of the recent village murders, did he, his colleague and the deacon simply run off? Bring the man in for questioning at least. Get his DNA. Do some actual police work. And why, if the Japanese man was a malevolent being, did he not offer some excuse to put Jong-goo et al off the scent? He made no effort to mislead them (beyond using the shaman), even when there was every opportunity to lie or distract Jong-goo each occasion they confronted him on the top of the mountain. The benevolent ghost Moo-myeong could've made everything clear early on if she'd been less ambiguous - instead she drip-fed pieces of information to Jong-goo, all too late. If she actually wanted to save the village, she could've easily done it.
When characters act in improbable or irrational ways in order to confuse the audience so the revelation is a surprise, that's lazy writing in my opinion. To me, this seems like this was just to force ambiguity so we weren't sure who was trustworthy or not, who was 'real' or not.
So it's a mixed bag of a movie. The positives are the setting, the basic plot and the pacing. The negatives are the tonal shifts, the shallow characters, some of the writing. There's a gem hidden in there somewhere, I just think it could've shone brighter if handled differently.
The film's premise is a mix of tropes (possession, good vs. evil, religious mythology), and its slow-burn narrative is set in a relatively poor, rural village in South Korea.
The tone the movie strikes at first is one of slapstick and black-comedy. The local police are incompetent, unfit and seemingly terrified of everything. I laughed quite a few times throughout. We get little character development; these aren't complicated people. The lead protagonist, Jong-goo, has about as much depth as a petri dish, and - work-shy and cowardly - doesn't inspire much sympathy.
Then there's a jarring tonal shift towards seriousness. Seeing Jong-goo distraught over the mystery sickness his daughter is plagued by didn't move me at all, because the goings-on up until that point had been dealt with so flippantly and the characters were painted as comic foils contrasting with the horrific murders. Why would we care about what's happening to these people, when they've been painted as two- dimensional and foolish?
The film's final half-an-hour redeemed it somewhat. I'd predicted the twist that the Japanese man was wrongly vilified and was trying to save the village, so when the shaman confirmed it, I was disappointed by how obvious it had been. But then it turned out to be a bluff! Which took me by surprise. He's evil after all. The ending was particularly strong; tragic, but poignant, with some allegorical revelations.
The characters make some strange decisions throughout. Why, when Jong-goo discovered the Japanese man had a shrine with photographs of the recent village murders, did he, his colleague and the deacon simply run off? Bring the man in for questioning at least. Get his DNA. Do some actual police work. And why, if the Japanese man was a malevolent being, did he not offer some excuse to put Jong-goo et al off the scent? He made no effort to mislead them (beyond using the shaman), even when there was every opportunity to lie or distract Jong-goo each occasion they confronted him on the top of the mountain. The benevolent ghost Moo-myeong could've made everything clear early on if she'd been less ambiguous - instead she drip-fed pieces of information to Jong-goo, all too late. If she actually wanted to save the village, she could've easily done it.
When characters act in improbable or irrational ways in order to confuse the audience so the revelation is a surprise, that's lazy writing in my opinion. To me, this seems like this was just to force ambiguity so we weren't sure who was trustworthy or not, who was 'real' or not.
So it's a mixed bag of a movie. The positives are the setting, the basic plot and the pacing. The negatives are the tonal shifts, the shallow characters, some of the writing. There's a gem hidden in there somewhere, I just think it could've shone brighter if handled differently.