Tell Me Something

TIFF [2000]

(South Korea 2000) 116 minutes
Cast: Hang Sukgyu, Shim Eunha, Chang Hangsun
Written by: Chang Youn-hyun, Kong Suchang, In Eunah, Shim Hae-won, Kim Eunjung
Directed by: Chang Youn-hyun

THE STORY:

Detective Cho heads an investigation into a string of grisly murders, unique because the killer has been mismatching the body parts. What little evidence he has leads him to a Suyeon, a beautiful but troubled artist with suspicious connection to the case--all of the victims are her ex-lovers. Is Suyeon the culprit? Is there something about her that drives others to desperate acts to win her affections? Suspicion soon falls on an obsessive "friend", but in a world that can spawn such bizarre crimes, such a solution is too easy.

ROBERT L'S REVIEW

The meticulous dismemberment of a body in clinical detail...

The film that outgrossed "The Phantom Menace™" in South Korea (pun most definitely intended), this stylish homage to 90's "serial killer chic" shows that the influence of Fincher's "Seven" and Verhoeven's "Basic Instinct" can be found in every corner of the world with a thriving motion picture industry.

From its cringe-inducing opening, chronicling the meticulous dismemberment of a body in clinical detail (shades of Nacho Cerda's "Aftermath"), to its gripping climax (one of several, actually) set in, of all places, a Tower Records chain, "Tell Me Something" is the kind of cat-and-mouse, "hard gore" chiller that forecasts a good many of its twists in advance--the fun is in watching them play out through another sensibility. We come to regard the sight of another anonymously disposed trash bag with anticipation and dread--especially after a wonderfully twisted scene in which two nosy toddlers cause a flood of gore and body parts in a cramped grocery store elevator.

"Tell Me Something" succeeds because it has us constantly switching our loyalties and playing detective alongside the characters. It's as meticulously plotted and as gruesome as Argento's "Tenebrae", as sharp-edged and eerily antiseptic in its visual palette as Michael Mann's "Manhunter", and as intelligent as both. For that reason it shines--even as it's ripping off other films--since Western thriller fans have had to cope with studio dreck like "The Bone Collector" while enduring the long wait for "Hannibal". Let's hope the U.S. studios have learned a lesson from "Nightwatch" and "The Vanishing" and show the good sense NOT to remake it.

- Robert L

Talk Back

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