I caught this movie yesterday, rather it caught me by the throat and had me suspended there for a good hour. Its from Korean Director Chan Wook Pak who directed ‘Oldboy‘, and ‘Sympathy for Mr.Vengence’. He has this knack of making movies that push emotions to the extreme, and making stories where we feel for the protagonist - however bad or good he is.

To my surprise - The movie started very dull - even after 30minutes into the movie - I was actually so bored that I stopped it, and started again after 2 days. It started with some crap about an investigation about a shooting in Korean DMZ. It had some fundas about how things don’t add up, and that there is some mystery to it - yawn… so? who cares?

Then it happened (I don’t want to spoil the fun by revealing the plot points - its best experienced, as I experienced it - bored first, then whacked into attention next) things were set in motion - and I was in a state of heightened anxiety till the end of the movie. You know, the ‘M.Night effect’ - you know something bad is about to happen, and u close your eyes partially, but peek through just enough to see/hear whats on screen. And that is the state you will be in, for the whole second half. At one point, the tension was so high, that I had to take a break… it was emotionally draining.

The production values are not as gorgeous as his other movies - maybe since this is a reconstructed set of the actual DMZ (obviously no one can get permission to film at the most volatile military zone of the planet - the ‘Bridge of No Return’ separating North and South Korea).

This is not a great movie - but just watch it for the director - how he manages to pull off the impossible: converting a bored spectator into a guy who pauses the movie to stop the inevitable from happening on screen.

4/5