Movies: A Tale of Two Sisters

I'm a known curmudgeon when it comes to confusing movies (I've panned them in the past). While ambiguity may be well and good on the printed page, where a reader is free to ponder and review the narrative at leisure, it's less endearing in a movie, which is essentially a roller coaster ride with a fixed pace. "A Tale of Two Sisters," a Korean horror film loosely based on a Korean folk tale ("Rose Flower, Red Lotus"), suffers from too much ambiguity.

It starts out simply enough - Su-mi and her younger sister Su-yeon return home after an extended absence, only to start confronting their stepmothers' increasingly mysterious behavior. Things go bump in the night, weird things happen, and there are a few requisite "Sixth Sense"-style revelations. You know the story is not being told well when there's a huge IMDB forum post trying to explain it (spoilers).

While the screenplay is a bit of a mess (except at the end), the acting, cinematography, and score are all well integrated and do tend to create the creepy atmosphere that escapes most American horror films these days. My favorite bit is actually the final scene, with Su-mi defiantly walking out of the house, to the swelling strains of the score.

Rating: 7/10