The Scarlet Letter (2004) User Reviews

Intense police drama made with true Asian flare

[Davidon80 · 7/10 · 5 February 2006]

Not an easy movie to watch, the plot sometimes meanders and feels as though it is heading towards a brick wall. However the intense climate to the movie will leave many viewers walking away head bowed and slightly traumatised by its conclusion.

The movie 'The Scarlet Letter', is one of the many Korean movies that is finding an audience in the west. With Hollywood churning out clone after clone of various genre movies, this Asian invasion could not have come at a better time. It is comforting to know that somewhere creative and challenging cinema is still being produced and distributed.

The story of 'The Scarlet Letter' involves a cop, Ki-Hoon, who whilst investigating a murder re-ignites a fling with his lover. The actual case that he is solving serves more as a backdrop with the main story focusing on the marital paradigmn between the protagonist, his wife and the lover.

The idea of a hardworking cop being torn between his devotions to the one he loves and duty may not seem like the most original premise. Many a cop movie/series has been devoted to such scenarios, movies like Micheal Mann's 'Heat' or 'Leathal Weapon' spring to mind. Yet what raises this movie above the average cop thriller is the frightening way Asian cinema is able to change the mood of a movie from one frame to another.

This is now a hall mark of Asian cinema and is rooted in a tradition whereby genres such as comedy, horror, romance and thrillers can be mixed all together in one movie, take Japanese (Kitano) or Hong Kong (John Woo) cinema as examples. For the last fifteen years Asian cinema has been producing genre defying movies. Korea has now entered into the fray and are producing movies where suspense, romance and terror can be weaved into a narrative and still retain a sense of realism. This is what Hollywood is failing to achieve, with too many Hollywood movies reliant on staple genres and archetype heroes.

After a brief respite Asia is once again paving a way for modern cinema to develop and surprisingly Korea seems to be the next port of call for the attention of the movie loving west.

A difficult movie to watch, but one that is worthy of your attention.

On the cusp of good

[rumfoord · 5/10 · 13 August 2005]

This is one of those films where you can't help but improvise. It has those scenes where you shout out brilliant, but then proceed to make a few alterations to the already produced script to make the thing workable, if not believable.

There are many awful south Korean films out there (for whatever reason, most of them seem to be romantic comedies)-- this is not one of them. Unfortunately this is no "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" or "Sorum" either. There are a handful of brilliant scenes in this film, including one particularly claustrophobic segment that reminded me of a permutation of Tarantino's Kill Bill Volume 2. Unfortunately, these moments are mired in irrelevance, overacting, and implausibility.

By all means, have a drink, take the film in -- but be prepared to throw a huge amount of constructive criticism at your TV. Be prepared to start writing a screen play, maybe take up non-linear editing as a hobby.

Do not watch this if you want to enjoy yourself.

[GraXXoR · 7/10 · 11 January 2018]

An entirely misrepresented film (lesbian cover, Reeeeeeely?) with truly Tarantino level twists bogged down by Desperate Housewives style plot minus the laughs.

First of all, this film's pacing is a mess. Over developed scenes stretch on for a quarter hour while an entire opportunity for a superb subplot is squeezed into 45 seconds.

Moreover, characters are built up steadily only to end up all but irrelevant while important relationships are glossed over.

Furthermore, the cynical poster shot of the two naked women in bed leads to nothing more than a minor footnote in the entire tale...

The token lesbian moment looked quite literally as if it were tacked on just to rake in a few extra sales... Pretty poor showing... Seriously, what the hell were the marketing people thinking? Oh yes, they were probably cynically thinking of sales...

OK, with the bad out of the way...

This film had its glorious moments....

The acting and characterisation were first rate, all the major characters were excellently portrayed with top rank performances. Special props to the portrayal of the detective: equal parts charismatic and total shitbag.

The sound editing was excellent.. Clear vocals with excellent ambience in every scene. Additionally, the classical music score and incidental BGM were without fault.

But best of all, the camerawork and editing: Top notch... The cinematography is some of the best I've seen at this budget level and really played to the strengths of the storyline... Intimate closeups; dreamy, floaty vistas, Jagged, claustrophobic macros.... 10/10 and worthy of note for students of the genre.

And THE SCENE... You'll know it when you watch it: Visceral enough to give Tarantino a hard-on.

All in all, a worthwhile watch.... Just don't go in there for the lesbian scenes.

Outstanding, Unique, Tragic, Thriller.

[sain11 · 10/10 · 13 November 2005]

The Scarlet Letter is an excellent film for fans of unique cinema. Part erotic thriller, part murder mystery, part police procedure, part extreme cinema, but somehow masterfully pieced together into a single cohesive, disturbing, tragic, emotional and intellectually stimulating film experience.

The cinematography, sound, music, acting, direction and script are all first rate. Although special mention must go to Lee Eun-ju, who steals every scene in a breathtaking performance, which was tragically her last as she committed suicide shortly after completing this project. Obviously she was in some serious emotional pain in her personal life at the time of filming, which she has used to add a raw and real emotional depth to her character.

The storyline is deceptively simple, at first appearing to be a routine murder investigation plot, based on a fairly mundane murder, however as we get deeper into the film this plot takes a back seat to the real story which is a dissection of the investigating officer's (Han Suk-kyu)complicated personal life and his relationships with his wife and his girlfriend (Lee Eun-ju).

It is in the complexities of this love triangle that the films true power and force really take place as the characters try to manage their lives as they slowly unravel. This leads to a climax that is emotionally overpowering and disturbing, and totally unique.

This is very intelligent, artistic, mature, dark, thriller.

Shocking and spectacular

[qrs_ina · 9/10 · 13 March 2007]

Before watching this film, I was quite circumspect regarding the Korean origin. Though, I was intrigued by the fact that the lead actress committed suicide shortly after. In the first part of the film, the plot is rather common- a murder investigation, a policeman's family life, nothing spectacular. But as the plot evolves, it gets more intense. The policeman's life is duplicitous, oscillating between the amenable, newly pregnant wife and a very appealing mistress- the singer Ga-yee. From the time Ga-yee finds out she is pregnant too, everything gets really complicated. She is confronted with Ki-hoon's incapacity to commitment regarding the unborn child and her love for him develops into obsession. In the same time, during the murder investigation, Ki-hoon experiments some sort of physical attraction to the the former wife of the dead man- principal suspect. In a very twisted chance of fate, Ki-hoon and Ga-yee end up locked in the trunk of his car, in an isolated place. The scenes are quite shocking, picturing the raw despair and the dramatic moments are so intense that you almost believe they are real. The paroxysm is reached when Ga-yee has a spontaneous abortion and then begs Ki-hoon to shoot her, which he does. It is worth mentioning that these scenes are very cruel and bloody. The title of the film comes up by Ga-yee's confession that the name she wanted for the baby is Pearl, Hester Pryne's daughter in the novel "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I was very impressed of the ending, in my honest opinion, the actors played excellent some of most complex and hard to imitate human feelings. If I should compare this film to other, it would be with "Irreversible".

surprising

[tskeffer · 8/10 · 30 May 2008]

At first I wasn't sure whether I should watch the movie because of some negative comments, but I decided to give it a try. Bearing in mind that I could always turn it off if I didn't liked it. But I was pleasantly surprised. The story was something I never saw before. Very original. The movie has quite a few twists and surprises that makes sure you are never bored and after every new discovery you want to see how it all turns out.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone I know. And if you are lucky enough to obtain a copy or can buy the DVD, don't hesitate.

8 out of 10.

Unexpected Turn out for a triangle love story

[MeeraM99 · 9 April 2012]

i've seen many love stories, this story also resembles in many ways to rest of them especially in dealing with the theme"Ex-marital affair". It's a story of a police officer who has complicated relation with two women in his life. But the difference in this movie is along with this, the story unfolds the tragic death of a studio owner. Two parallel stories, but connected in some ways- the presence of a third person in married life.

I suggest this movie to those who are tangled in two love relations at a time. The scene in trunk of the car is unexpected and gruesome evidence human frailties. Feelings such as despair,struggle for survival, shame, repentance and all the frustrating feelings crossing through the minds of both actors is a wonderful drawing of human life. That scenes are outstanding and unique from rest of the movie.

Astonishing. The best erotic thriller ever created.

[lukmannea · 10/10 · 1 January 2024]

"The Scarlet Letter" hits you hard, and it's all you need to know. Excellent acting and perfect fit into the genre conventions (erotic thriller/drama) carry this movie, and everything else goes on as smoothly as possible.

Nudity ain't there to turn you on and without a reason (which is quite rare, in today's films), but actually fits perfectly into the story beats.

The best part of the movie is of course Lee Eun-ju: what a brilliant actress she was! Her acting in this film is for sure one of the best performances I have ever seen on the screen.

I honestly don't understand the bad reviews: to get a 10 out of 10 is it mandatory to have extremely complicated plots, to have been produced by the best directors of the world, and to have been nominated for a thousand international awards? And also, since a few people complained about the pace, they should probably specify that it doesn't fit their personal taste, because this movie does everything right and more. If you want to watch an erotic thriller/drama, or simply something incredibly good, this is THE movie.

Kudos to one of the best films and one of the best performances (Lee Eun-ju's) ever.

explanation of bad score - really an excellent movie

[shaidarharan · 10/10 · 19 June 2005]

This is vague to avoid spoilers, but the nature of the bad votes is because the movie's message and depth is beyond the average viewer, especially when considering many of IMDb's voters won't be watching this in it's native language, so the already purposely puzzling Mystery/Thriller aspects of the story coupled with the unique message concerning the title, The Scarlet Letter, could cause confusion with either plot thread, making the movie unsuccessful to that viewer. About the title, it should make sense after the last 5-10 minutes of the movie and is probably not what most people would think after watching the prior 95% OR being familiar with the original Scarlet Letter.

Give this whole movie a chance, feel free to talk it out with friends during the movie (it is a mystery) and be...moved or awed at the end. For a mood, be ready for a darker ending than most movies (not the same dark as say Arlington Road though). It wraps up well and should leave you feeling OK.

10/10. The movie really achieves what it aspired for and remains thoughtful in a usually "for entertainment only" genre (murder/mystery).

perfect ending song too, reminiscent of Oldboy (2004). otherwise low-key soundtrack that is well done. Don't let the Korenglish song sung early on by 1 character put you off.