Acacia (2003)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Ki-hyeong Park

Writer:

Ki-hyeong Park (writer)

Release Date:

17 October 2003 (South Korea)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Plot:

After unsuccessfully trying to have a baby of their own, Dr. Kim Do-il and his father convince his wife Choi Mi-sook to adopt a child in an orphanage...

Plot Keywords:

Tree | Boy | Family Relationships | Ant | Adopted Son

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Hye-jin Shim	...	Choi, Mi-sook
Jin-geun Kim	...	Kim, Do-il
Oh-bin Mun	...	Kim, Jin-seong
Na-yoon Jeong	...	Min-ji

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and some language.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Sweden:15 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:NC-16 (original rating) | Singapore:PG (edited for re-rating) | South Korea:15 | USA:R | UK:15

Ambiguous, Bold and Original Chiller

After unsuccessfully trying to have a baby of their own, Dr. Kim Do-il (Jin-geun Kim) and his father convince his wife Choi Mi-sook (Hye-jin Shim) to adopt a child in an orphanage. Mi-sook is connected to arts and chooses the six years Kim Jin-sung (Oh-bin Mun) that loves to draw trees. The boy becomes close to the eight years old next door neighbor Min-jee (Na-yoon Jeong) and is attracted to an old Acacia tree in their lawn. When Mi-sook unexpectedly gets pregnant, her mother asks her to return Jin-sung to the orphanage, beginning the rejection process of the boy. When the baby is born, Mi-sook does not treat Jin-sung well, who believes the acacia tree is his mother, and in a rainy night he vanishes. Along the next days, the family becomes insane, disclosing a dark secret about Jin-sung.

South-Korean horror movies are the best in the genre usually supported by three points: ambiguity, boldness and originality in non-linear chillers, with a great twist in the end; The writers and directors are not afraid to usually explore bold situations that Hollywood does not dare to use – like for example death of children. These three factors are constant, and in "Acacia" is no exception. The ambiguity of the screenplay permits to disclose in a low-pace either a family drama or a supernatural story. All the situations have explanations; the viewer has just to join the pieces of the puzzle and find them. In this story, the innocence of the foster kid makes him believe that his mother is a tree because somebody had justified the loss of his mother in a rainy day explaining that she became a tree. The rejection process of the boy when the baby is born is usual between siblings, imagine with a little child brought from an orphanage. The greatest difficulty of South-Korean movies is that they force the viewer to think, and unfortunately many people are not used to do that, giving a low rating to a very good movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available