A finer definition of claustrophobia there could not be! Much of the closed-in feeling here is due to the care taken creating the sets. They are truly amazing. How on earth did someone work all this out? Note especially the bizarrely corrugated walls, the stuffed crow (it’s too small to be a raven), the masks over the piano, not to mention the bust in the hallway. All of this, and more, populates the world in which most of this film takes place. A few shots of trains speeding by emphasizes the close quarters.

Yet even more care has been given to the lighting. I will need to see the picture a few more times to figure out how it was done and where the light sources are placed. I can’t think of any other film with as much care given these two, frequently unnoticed, elements of film making. The lightning, on the other hand… what we have here is clearly “plot-convenience thunderstorms”!

Lee Eun Shim in the title role is terrific. She glowers and squints and sighs and groans as she goes way, way over the top. Ahn Sung Ki is also amazing as the brat kid. His performance sent chills up my spine as it brought to mind a similar kid on the playground of my elementary school kicking the crutches out from under the poor polio victims. I only discovered after watching the film that he went on to become one of the most popular actors in Korea! You can definitely see his roots here.

One question: Does that stairs trick really work?

And the ending….I LOVED the ending!!!