The Scarlet Letter (2004)

An entirely misrepresented film (lesbian cover, Reeeeeeely?) with truly Tarantino level twists bogged down by Desperate Housewives style plot minus the laughs.First of all, this film's pacing is a mess. Over developed scenes stretch on for a quarter hour while an entire opportunity for a superb subplot is squeezed into 45 seconds.Moreover, characters are built up steadily only to end up all but irrelevant while important relationships are glossed over.Furthermore, the cynical poster shot of the two naked women in bed leads to nothing more than a minor footnote in the entire tale...The token lesbian moment looked quite literally as if it were tacked on just to rake in a few extra sales... Pretty poor showing... Seriously, what the hell were the marketing people thinking? Oh yes, they were probably cynically thinking of sales...OK, with the bad out of the way...This film had its glorious moments.... The acting and characterisation were first rate, all the major characters were excellently portrayed with top rank performances. Special props to the portrayal of the detective: equal parts charismatic and total shitbag.The sound editing was excellent.. Clear vocals with excellent ambience in every scene. Additionally, the classical music score and incidental BGM were without fault.But best of all, the camerawork and editing: Top notch... The cinematography is some of the best I've seen at this budget level and really played to the strengths of the storyline... Intimate closeups; dreamy, floaty vistas, Jagged, claustrophobic macros.... 10/10 and worthy of note for students of the genre.And THE SCENE... You'll know it when you watch it: Visceral enough to give Tarantino a hard-on.All in all, a worthwhile watch.... Just don't go in there for the lesbian scenes.

i've seen many love stories, this story also resembles in many ways to rest of them especially in dealing with the theme"Ex-marital affair". It's a story of a police officer who has complicated relation with two women in his life. But the difference in this movie is along with this, the story unfolds the tragic death of a studio owner. Two parallel stories, but connected in some ways- the presence of a third person in married life.I suggest this movie to those who are tangled in two love relations at a time. The scene in trunk of the car is unexpected and gruesome evidence human frailties. Feelings such as despair,struggle for survival, shame, repentance and all the frustrating feelings crossing through the minds of both actors is a wonderful drawing of human life. That scenes are outstanding and unique from rest of the movie.

Not an easy movie to watch, the plot sometimes meanders and feels as though it is heading towards a brick wall. However the intense climate to the movie will leave many viewers walking away head bowed and slightly traumatised by its conclusion.The movie 'The Scarlet Letter', is one of the many Korean movies that is finding an audience in the west. With Hollywood churning out clone after clone of various genre movies, this Asian invasion could not have come at a better time. It is comforting to know that somewhere creative and challenging cinema is still being produced and distributed.The story of 'The Scarlet Letter' involves a cop, Ki-Hoon, who whilst investigating a murder re-ignites a fling with his lover. The actual case that he is solving serves more as a backdrop with the main story focusing on the marital paradigmn between the protagonist, his wife and the lover.The idea of a hardworking cop being torn between his devotions to the one he loves and duty may not seem like the most original premise. Many a cop movie/series has been devoted to such scenarios, movies like Micheal Mann's 'Heat' or 'Leathal Weapon' spring to mind. Yet what raises this movie above the average cop thriller is the frightening way Asian cinema is able to change the mood of a movie from one frame to another.This is now a hall mark of Asian cinema and is rooted in a tradition whereby genres such as comedy, horror, romance and thrillers can be mixed all together in one movie, take Japanese (Kitano) or Hong Kong (John Woo) cinema as examples. For the last fifteen years Asian cinema has been producing genre defying movies. Korea has now entered into the fray and are producing movies where suspense, romance and terror can be weaved into a narrative and still retain a sense of realism. This is what Hollywood is failing to achieve, with too many Hollywood movies reliant on staple genres and archetype heroes.After a brief respite Asia is once again paving a way for modern cinema to develop and surprisingly Korea seems to be the next port of call for the attention of the movie loving west.A difficult movie to watch, but one that is worthy of your attention.

This is one of those films where you can't help but improvise. It has those scenes where you shout out brilliant, but then proceed to make a few alterations to the already produced script to make the thing workable, if not believable.There are many awful south Korean films out there (for whatever reason, most of them seem to be romantic comedies)-- this is not one of them. Unfortunately this is no "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" or "Sorum" either. There are a handful of brilliant scenes in this film, including one particularly claustrophobic segment that reminded me of a permutation of Tarantino's Kill Bill Volume 2. Unfortunately, these moments are mired in irrelevance, overacting, and implausibility.By all means, have a drink, take the film in -- but be prepared to throw a huge amount of constructive criticism at your TV. Be prepared to start writing a screen play, maybe take up non-linear editing as a hobby.