This was made by Park Chan-wook and stars Tang Wei so we were always going to watch it. As expected of this director, it’s a tough film to talk about without spoiling anything important. I suppose it’s harmless enough to mention its dual murder structure and both are meticulously plotted out. Its heart though is a kind of mutual obsession that could be interpreted as love. This isn’t as striking and interesting as the earlier films that established Park’s reputation but I’d judge it to be a solid film and a worthwhile watch all the same.

Jang Hae-jun is a police detective in Busan who only goes to meet with his wife in the small town of Ipo once a week. An insomniac, he tends to spend his nights conducting surveillance on suspects and staring at photos of unsolved murders. His latest case is a retired immigration officer found dead at the bottom of a mountain. The main suspect is the man’s wife, Song Seo-rae, who being of Chinese origin, struggles with the Korean language. He discovers that she apparently killed her own dying mother as an act of mercy and subsequently fled China. As Hae-jun interviews her and observes her daily routines, he becomes increasingly infatuated with her. He eventually rules the case to be a suicide as Seo-rae has an alibi and allows her to draw closer to him. When he later stumbles upon evidence that she was responsible after all, he helps her cover it up and ends their relationship but declares himself shattered. His depression worsens and he moves to Ipo to be with his wife. Yet one evening at the market, he runs into Seo-rae again who has since remarried.

This is a film that I’d judge looks deceptively complex but is really much simpler at its heart. It’s crammed full of small, specific details, such as how Seo-rae’s grandfather was actually Korean and died fighting in Manchuria. Yet most of those details don’t really matter to the underlying theme and mostly contribute to adding layers of superficial complexity to the film. It’s satisfying to watch Hae-jun notice all kinds of small clues and visualize the suspects’ paths like Sherlock Holmes and the clever tricks that Seo-rae came up with to get away with it are equally impressive. Even so, this film doesn’t really want to be an investigative mystery film. You can see that from how quickly it rushes through the exposition about clues and methodology. Instead the scenes that matter, the moments when the camera lingers, are the romantic and emotional ones between the two leads. Yet that part of the film is comparatively simpler, so much so that I’d say there is a mismatch between the two sides of the film.

Characteristically of Park, the relationship between Hae-jun and Seo-rae isn’t romantic so much as mutual obsession. Hae-jun develops feelings for her from essentially stalking her, eavesdropping on her as she talks to her cat and spying on her as she eats ice-cream for dinner. Seo-rae for her part surreptitiously records what he says to her and replays them herself over and over again. It’s alright I suppose but it’s a lot less intense and original than Park’s earlier films. Tang Wei does a great job as Song Seo-rae. I liked how they incorporate her Chinese identity into the plot, so her use of the Chinese language adds to her mystery to Hae-jun. I’m not sure that Park Hae-il is as good at being Hae-jun. He does okay at being a police detective but I felt that the director was surprisingly restrained in portraying his descent into depression. For someone who can’t sleep and likes to keep photos of murdered victims on his wall, he seems too sane and put together. It seems to me that both characters are underdeveloped if we are meant to emotionally engage with them seriously. We never get a real feel for why Hae-jun initially has his arrangement with his wife in that way or why Seo-rae remarried so quickly. It’s underwhelming as a drama.

Overall I’d say this is still a fine film and it’s great that the audience is never exactly sure where it is going while you are watching. However it’s not as smart as it purports to be and it’s a big letdown from the director’s earlier films.