What I like about this film is that it's nothing like the pop culture k-dramas, though its publicity should be on their level. There are no pretty boys who throw their swooping hair out of their faces before glaring what's meant to be seductively, nor any who powder their faces, and no scantily clad young women bouncing around with brown hair dye in the latest clothing and high heels throughout a ridiculous plot centering around their high school crush. There's no pop music to keep you energized. Though this film could've used a little energy. A film with promise slowly but eventually showed me not even halfway through that this was gonna be a long, dry sit leading to nowhere. I'm not saying this movie had to be some kind of torture porn. That's what Japan is good at, and not in a bad way do I say this. But not even Korea's most popular "thrillers" like ...*sigh* "Oldboy" and "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" or whatever it's called, are all that thrilling. Both of those films stood behind the line and never crossed it nor approached it, yet they are strangely upheld as disturbing masterpieces. Ha. The story that inspired this film is far more interesting, though it's not supposed to be. Teenagers get bullied and tortured and extorted by a gang and their friends over a long course of time, and no one helps them, it is said. People say it is based on a particular 2004 incident though this film was made 10 years later. I think it's negligent to say it is based exclusively on a case so long ago, as if many similar cases in Korea have not happened since then, regardless of the film crew's inspiration.This film, however, doesn't really respect this situation that allegedly inspired the movie itself, strangely. The movie is about 110 minutes, and I'd like to say 80 of those total were based nothing on the incident. It just silently followed the actress around at school, at work, at her new home, at swimming lessons, writing songs, and remembering stuff. All the while I'm thinking it's going to lead to this big reveal that was promised. There was none. It seems what the film did was: film the flashbacks first. Then film her in her new life, where she starts over at a new school and in a new place to stay. And then in the editing room, they just ripped these scenes apart and then lazily strung them together in a loose pattern of flashbacks and current life. This is poorly done and gradually detaches you from the main character and eventually the film and the storyline. And I can imagine that's not any film's goal. But as this film is a sensitive subject, I can see if this was an intentional tactic to try and not upset anyone too much as real lives are involved. However, all of that aside, it does make the film seem pointless. And I want 112 minutes of my life back. If you want to see an exciting film about rape revenge or dealing with the aftermath, and one out of Korea, then look at "Don't Cry, Mommy." This film more bravely and thrillingly takes you from the girl's life as a social, normal teen, to her tragedy, to her legal troubles with the perpetrators, to her emotional aftermath, to her mother's. It's amazing how they bunched all of that together in one film, and I believe it was shorter than this one (ok I just looked: Don't Cry Mommy is 90 minutes. That means 30 minutes shorter than this film. Yet way better and never straying from its purpose). It can be done.*Also, the ending of this film has serious nerve. This film didn't deserve an emotional response that its last scene tried to create. The compelling storyline should have been told better, especially if it took 10 years to tell it.

When I started to watch I was thinking that I was not paying enough attention because it was looking too weird and random. However, at minute 50 some of the main puzzle pieces pops out in your front and the whole thing makes sense. And overall, the main thing you cannot understand is WHY the girl could possible be guilty for that??? It was my questioning since the beginning. This all because you do not understand HOW in this world rape can be considered something that the girls are the only guilty on it. Yes, the world is big enough to have places like that. And I am pleased that someone in there brought this up to the screen. Something like this happens and the justice is not there. At least we can be aware that if it happens again, hopefully people can act differently. I certainly hope.

Han Gong Ju is a young school girl who is suddenly up rooted from her home and taken to a new district to live and attend a new school. All we know is that there has been 'a scandal' at her old school and that she was directly involved. Her school teacher takes her to live with his mother - who runs a little supermarket.Han Gong Ju then tries to rebuild a life devoid of the past, but her curious detachment acts as a lure for some of her new class mates and try as she might the past always has a strange way of catching up with us.This is probably a slow burner, but the direction and pacing make it feel more immediate than it actually is. The performances are all sufficiently nuanced to keep one guessing as to what really happened and as such the past is done in a slow reveal through flash backs. The back story could have been fleshed out better but once gain we have enough hints and subtle asides that help put all the pieces together. This is one where your full attention is required, but that is quite easy as it is very gripping. Another great piece of cinema from South Korea.

Slow, scattered. Some subplot should have been trimmed or cut completely. The fundamental crime is a bit unbelievable, like a home invasion out of a horror movie, and that undermines the tower of disconnected scenes on top. The climax and the ending are rushed.A well shot and well acted film, but the lead had hardly anything to work with. For all the film's length, we know almost nothing about the main character's life before the incident, which makes it hard to relate to her. Her performance was good but with the languid pace and editing, and the drip feed script, she almost seems blank, but the film just manages to avoid this. The problem is, the film builds all this emotional weight on a somewhat sensational premise and this kind of trauma requires a treatment more committed to the character. Nobody helps her in the end, not the other characters, but not the director either, or the viewers, who really become voyeurs.