YONHAP NEWS

(Movie Review) Impressive opening but mediocre ending in psychological thriller 'The Pot'

By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Yonhap) -- The success of the horror genre rests on the dual nature of human beings. While being discomforted by the torment inflicted by ghosts or malefactors, we also tend to take a vicarious pleasure in the proceedings, knowing ourselves safely removed from the ill fortune on screen.

Psychological horror "The Pot (Dok)" forbids viewers such satisfaction. The misfortunes and uncanny incidents in the movie derive not from outside influence or by coincidence, but man's own lust, greed, indifference and fanaticism, leaving the audiences fidgeting at the thought that the story is partly their own.

Everything seems picture-perfect for a family of three -- factory manager Hyeong-guk (Im Hyung-kook), his wife Yeong-ae (Yang Eun-yong) and daughter Mi-ae (Ryu Hyeon-bin). They are about to welcome a second child into their newly purchased home in Seoul, and their business, built on a fortune inherited from Hyeong-guk's mother, is also doing well.

   Befriending their neighbors, an elderly Presbyterian couple, the family begins to attend church, praying for more wealth and happiness. But the parents soon becomes uncomfortable with the elderly woman's excessive fondness of their daughter. After the woman dies, Mi-ae starts behaving in a bizarre manner, suddenly carrying a grudge against her mother and creating a weird aura around the house.

   Suspicion breeds fear, which in turn breeds tragedy, ending the domestic bliss and bringing the family to the brink of disaster.

   Debuting at the 2008 Pusan International Film Festival, "The Pot" was also invited to the 2009 International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Fribourg International Film Festival, building up anticipation as another noticeable independent, low-budget film.

   Writer-director Kim Tae-gon's debut feature, unfortunately, appears to rely too heavily on the genre's conventions, and not in a novel way that exploits the audience's now-ingrained expectations.

As a horror-stricken family drama that relies not on brutality or blood but on psychological tension and realistic details, "The Pot" closely resembles Kim Ji-woon's "A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)" which was a surprise hit at the domestic box office and was remade by Hollywood.

But unlike its predecessor, which was pacey, sophisticated and convincing all in one batch, "The Pot" never quite manages to fully explore the fragility of the family, its main theme, scattering itself between too many issues at the same time.

Although the novice filmmaker should be applauded for his attempt to melt issues such as greed of the neo-bourgeois family and religious fanaticism in a horror movie, "The Pot" randomly picks up and drops its plot threads and is more than a half-an-hour too long. More judicious editing could have tightened the narrative and give a needed twist to a familiar material.

Produced in cooperation of the Chung-Ang University's Graduate School of Advancing Image and Science and distributed by Indiestory, the movie will hit the local theaters on Aug. 20.

hayney@yna.co.kr
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