Janghwa, Hongryeon (2003)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Ji-woon Kim

Writer:

Ji-woon Kim (screenplay)

Release Date:

13 June 2003 (South Korea)

Genre:

Horror | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Our sorrow was conceived long before our birth

Plot:

A family is haunted by the tragedies of deaths within the family.

Plot Keywords:

Stepmother | Ghost | Told In Flashback | Medication | Suicide By Hanging

Awards:

12 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Kap-su Kim	...	Bae Moo-hyeon (Father)
Jung-ah Yum	...	Eun-joo (Stepmother)
Su-jeong Lim	...	Bae Soo-mi (Janghwa)
Geun-Young Moon	...	Bae Soo-yeon (Hongryeon)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Seung-bi Lee	...	Mi-hee

Directed by
Ji-woon Kim

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ji-woon Kim		screenplay

Produced by
Jeong-wan Oh	....	producer
Jung-Wan Oh	....	executive producer
Ki-min Oh	....	producer (as Oh Gi-Min)

Original Music by
Byung-woo Lee

Cinematography by
Mo-gae Lee

Film Editing by
Hyeon-mi Lee

Art Direction by
Geun-hyeon Jo

Production Companies

• B.O.M. Film Productions Co.
• Masulpiri Films

Distributors

• Chungeorahm Film (2003) (South Korea) (theatrical)
• Bir Film (????) (Turkey) (theatrical)
• 3L Filmverleih (2005) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Arti Film (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Bac Films (????) (France) (theatrical)
• Comstock (2004) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Karma Films (2004) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Medusa Distribuzione (2004) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Tartan Films (2004) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Tartan (2004) (UK) (theatrical)
• Tartan (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
• Zima Entertainment (2005) (Mexico) (theatrical)
• Aztec International Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• CDK Entertainment (2008) (Greece) (all media)
• Cineclick Asia (worldwide)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Europa Filmes (2007) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Future Film (2005) (Finland) (DVD)
• Metro DVD (????) (South Korea) (DVD)
• Palisades Tartan (2003) (USA) (all media)
• Palisades-Tartan Acquisitions (2008) (UK) (DVD)
• TLA Releasing (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Tartan Video USA (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Tartan Video (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• Visionary Thinking (2004) (Bosnia-Herzegovina) (all media)
• Visionary Thinking (2004) (Serbia and Montenegro) (all media)
• e-m-s the DVD-Company (2005) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Dominion3 Public Relations  unit publicity

Also Known As:

A Tale of Two Sisters (International: English title)
Rose and Lotus (South Korea) (informal literal English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence and disturbing images.

Runtime:

Korea:115 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

Ireland:16 (original rating) | Ireland:18 (re-rating) (2005) | Malaysia:18SG (uncut version) | Malaysia:U (re-rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Peru:18 | Mexico:B15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Japan:PG-12 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R | Sweden:15 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-18

Filming Locations:

Yuler-Myun, Bosung, Jeollanamdo, South Korea

Company:

B.O.M. Film Productions Co.

Trivia:

Su-jeong Lim, who played Su-mi originally auditioned for the role of Su-yeon.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the hospital scenes, there is no scar on the back of Su-mi's hand.

Quotes:

Bae Soo-mi: Shall we kill them?
Bae Soo-yeon: Let's set them free.
Bae Soo-mi: She'll have a cow if we mess with her precious. I'd hate to see that.

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Uninvited (2009)

See this masterpiece before Hollywood destroys it.

The recent history of Hollywood remakes of ghost/horror films from the East has been dismal. This film will inevitably suffer the same fate, so get a copy on e-bay or similar.

It is well photographed and the sound is superb. Viewing on a good screen and with a good 5.1 or DTS enabled sound system is recommended. Obviously it is subtitled, so if that puts you off, then I wouldn't bother with this. Dubbing rarely works and simply would not do here.

It is also genuinely frightening, with excellent performances from a cast who will be unfamiliar to Western audiences. I would particularly single out the stepmother character, who was utterly brilliant. The ending will have you wanting to watch it again, if you can cope. The plot is relentless, and offers no comforting moments of release along the way.

If I do have a small criticism, there is perhaps a detectable influence in certain scenes from the Japanese version of The Ring. We have, however, accepted straight copies of other peoples' ideas for Western films for years, and so my point is a limited one which did not prevent me from giving it 10/10. I believe most fans of this genre will derive huge "pleasure" from this film which I for one hope goes down as a classic.