I'm a big fan of Asian cinema. Ever since I made the first discover with Ring during the dark days of VHS rentals, I've been digging deeper and deeper into the goldmine to discover any number of brilliant films.
True even before Tartan released Ring in this country, I was aware of directors like Kurosawa, Ozu - had watched the oddities of bullet opera from Hong Kong that Channel 4 used to screen (where are you now, the alternative channel?) and had occasionally been subjected to anime shows that my friends thought I could see.
But my true love-affair started with Ring and from thereon it was as if a dam had broken. Nearly eleven years on, the quantity of stuff I've watched is staggering , helped in no short measure by some very good Asian film festivals in London.
However the danger with such an approach is obviously the better films become rarer once you skim through the cream of the crop. And as the findings get rarer and rarer, you become more and more desperate for something to come along and blow your mind.
Two years ago it was 'Chugyeogja' - then it was 'Epitaph' - and I think now 'Bulsinjiok' can be safely added to that list.
To be honest with you, 'Bulsinjiok' might not strike some viewers as well thought-out as the titles I mentioned before. It's a more subtle film, one that encourages you think further about what happens on-screen and it doesn't hurt that it comes sporting a very creepy image or two.
'Bulsinjiok' is about college student named Hee Jin (Nam Sang Mi) who returns home when her 14-year-old sister So Jin (Shim Eun Kyung) goes missing. Her mother, a fanatic churchgoer, resorts to prayer and refuses to work with the lazy police to find So Jin. Meanwhile, a neighbor commits suicide and leaves a will for So Jin, and Hee Jin hears rumors that her sister had been possessed. The whereabouts of So Jin becomes increasingly elusive as Hee Jin's dreams intensify and more deaths occur.
The plot of 'Bulsinjiok' can be considered quite claustrophobic. The whole thing is pretty much set in and around the same apartment block and narratively is nothing more than characters slowly revealing the truth as the eerie atmosphere intesifies.
However, where the film scores highly is in its' exploration of blind faith. Not just shamanic or Christian blind faith but blind faith in general: from So Jin's mother who prays all night fanatically and tells those who do not follow her footsteps that they are going to hell to a neighbour who is also a shaman who becomes the catalyst behind the whole story.
The film also explores the demons in us all: how blinds faith corrupts us, makes us do things we'd never imagine doing. And it doesn't just let the characters embroiled in the main story stand responsible - even the detective investigating the case is not above falling for such superstition as he has a little girl slowly dying in hospital from some unnamed illness.
'Bulsinjiok' also shows a different Korean than we are used to: the ignorance that's set deep within the slums - the apartment block looming over an abandoned playground, in the distance factories stand silent and imposing. The grey dominates every frame, the flats all look nearly identical, dull furniture, used and old and the people look tired from the very effort of living. Even the characters are lost souls - trying to find something to anchor their very fears on so that they may escape - the security guards little outburst is one such example.
However 'Bulsinjiok' is also a horror film - Hee-Jin's dreams , full of surreal and beautiful imagery like a lost Bunuel film as well as the long-legged bird (I think it's a stork but someone can correct me if I'm wrong) nightmarishly watching the unfolding events. Her first visit to the playground is just as superb - with shadows looming across the frames as he finds... something that is both unnerving and very unreal.
If you're a fan of intelligent horror films. I'd recommend you give 'Bulsinjiok' a chance. It might be slow and subtle - however when the second half of the film starts, you cannot help but realise that it has gotten under your skin. By the time the shocking but honest ending unfolds across the screen you will realise you've been holding your breath. Best of all, it will linger on your mind long after forcing you to think about what the film tried to convey.
'Bulsinjiok' currently has not U.K. release date.
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