'The Wailing' Review: Why didn't I watch this sooner, WOW!


🌟 The Wailing 🌟 Review 🌟 9/10 🌟

Directed by Na Hong-jin

Starring: Kwak Do-won as Jong-goo, Hwang Jung-min as Il-gwang, Chun Woo-hee as Moo-myung, Jun Kunimura as Japanese stranger, Kim Hwan-hee as Hyo-jin

I have seen a lot of films, and reviewed a fair amount of films but this extraordinary two and a half hour technically-perfect humanistic horror film from Na Hong-jin (I SAW THE DEVIL) was something of a cipher.

The closest analogy I can suggest is maybe David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, yet another technically perfect, humanistic, suspense opus which keeps you captivated for its full length, yet has you walking out of the cinema (or lounge) shaking your head and wondering what you just saw? Both film-makers understand the "big secret" of story telling which is, if you can present your story in such a way that the viewer feels he or she is sharing the experience with the protagonist, you can tell any story you like and the viewer will just keep going. The acting was first-rate from the hole cast, but especially from Kwak Do-won, who held nothing back with his emotions as a struggling father, he really had me going at times, he was brilliant.

I will not even try to provide an explanation for what THE WAILING means or is, other than to re-quote the writer/director himself who, in numerous interviews on his film, said enigmatically "I began to wonder about the nature of God -- what if he was not always good?" Recommended on many levels. As entertainment, as a puzzle, and as a lesson in how to make a film that engages ... and just won't let go.

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