By Chris Hyde

February 18, 2004

A recent Korean psychological horror film takes a trip into the strange world of memory and paranormal phenomena.

One of South Korea's most popular actresses, Jeon Ji-hyun is justly famous for her role as the unnamed protagonist of the smash hit screwball comedy My Sassy Girl. Though the young woman's career to this point only consists of a few roles, at the current time there are few female stars active in Korean film that can rival her celebrity. Previous to last year her resume had consisted of mostly work in romantic comedy or melodrama, leaving some fans to wonder about her ultimate range as an actress. But now, with a solid performance in The Uninvited as a downbeat waif with seemingly paranormal powers, the questions as to her overall ability have been answered. As 2004 will return her to the fold of Kwak Jae-yong (the director of My Sassy Girl) in a comic role as a police officer, it's nice to know that she's already proven herself here as more than a one-dimensional talent.

Though the part of Jeon Ji-hyun in The Uninvited is central to the project, much of the film revolves around the male protagonist Jung-won (played capably by Park Shin-yang). He's an architect who we initially see falling asleep on the subway and waking up at the train's final stop, only to become tangentially involved in what appears to be a case of a mother poisoning her two children. This disturbing encounter troubles the young man quite deeply, to the point where he is haunted by the memory of what he has seen. But is it what he has seen on the train or perhaps something more personal that begins to creep into his existence? Whatever the case may be, events then start to unfold that will affect his real world relationships and lead him to question his grip on reality.

Paying a business call to a psychiatrist's office one day, Jung-won sees a morose young woman named Yun (Jeon Ji-hyun) who is being treated by the clinician there. These two lives then slowly become more and more intertwined, as chance encounters and an odd, almost psychic connection appear to inexorably draw the pair closer to each other. To the consternation of his fiancée, Jung-won investigates the case that has led Yun to need mental rehabilitation and discovers that she is a part of another double murder -- wherein a friend of Jun's apparently killed both her own child as well as Jun's. What's happened in this past incident is not entirely clear, however, and Jung-won has some difficulty in unraveling the threads of the tale of Jun's life while at the same time wrestling with his own inner demons. While eventually the film weaves together all of its disparate strands, it would be too unfair to future viewers to detail them clearly here. But suffice it to say that the ultimate payoff is completely in keeping with the generally more somber conclusions that Asian audiences are willing to accept.

Though nominally a ghost story/horror film, The Uninvited is in reality much more of a psychological study than anything else. Issues of memory and loss are continually brought up within its well-paced framework, and though the film might be characterized as somewhat cold, its compositional depth and intriguing story line carry it just past the usual genre efforts. Much of the cast's dramatic work is excellent, with the two leads being particularly good in their challenging roles. Jeon Ji-hyun's performance is especially noteworthy for its quality, especially when held up against her prior work that is of much lighter weight. In this part there is no hint of the strong willed brassiness upon which her My Sassy Girl role was built; instead, in the person of a wounded and frail character battered by the past she evinces just the right note of vulnerability. At times it seems that she's a completely different woman that the one we have seen in her comedic work, a gray and shaded person completely at odds with the shimmering persona that she has previously unveiled. While not a groundbreaking performance by any means, the actress's turn in The Univited at least irrevocably demonstrates that the star's popularity is based on more than just her surface attractions.

Overall, it's hard to argue that The Uninvited is much more than a relatively successful genre effort in the well-mined territory of psychological horror. There are certainly a few inventive twists in the screenplay, but in the main there really isn't a lot here that's all that innovative or shocking. What makes the movie more palatable than the average effort in this field is the evenhanded and artful direction, its querulous sense of dread, the washed out tonal palette of the cinematography and the standout work of the two lead actors. While perhaps the film might have benefited by a trim of its 128-minute length and the tightening up of its sometimes wandering storyline, the positive aspects of The Uninvited make it a worthwhile addition to the burgeoning ranks of the Korean horror canon. And if nothing else, the work of Jeon Ji-hyun as a character far different than any that she has previously played marks this one as an important demonstration that the actress is a proven talent whose present fame is built on more than her more obvious charms. Fans all over can now look for a broadly promising future from this striking young performer.