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The scene in which the spirit of Asako smiles at Soo-in after he is hit by a car was quite stunning. This seemed to imply that Asako had intended this accident, and that once again, it was her obsession that had led to a death. The first car accident was caused due to Asako's obsession of her step father, and the second one was probably caused in order for Asako to bring Soo-in with her to her afterlife. Thusly, the entire film seems to be centered around this theme of obsession. This can be shown not only through Asako, but also through the stubborn director's desire to marry her daughter to Jung-nam even after the daughter commits suicide, and In-young's obsession with her husband's soul that causes her to live as her dead husband.
ReplyDeleteThis movie is a horror film, not because spirits appear in the movie, but because of the strong obsession and desires within each soul that destroy the characters' lives. Moreover, it was the fear of the spirits that caused the characters to be terrified, rather than the spirits themselves. This movie shows that what we sould fear the most is what's inside of us, for that is what can do the most damage to ourselves.
Epitaph shows the directors innovative and something little different than the usual simple tales of vengeful long haired spirits stalking schoolgirls. Jung Brothers who took the ambitious move of making their debut with a complex style and intriguing historical setting is the only appreciation that I have for this movie. Although Epitaph is very original in the sense of horror movie, the cinematography made me loose the interest in watching. Using three different stories and then trying to inter relate them towards the end seemed like promoting the stubbornness of usual horror movie to generate a story. In case of Epitaph, it is ambiguous to determined who is the protagonist, and wath was the climax of the story. The use of computer graphics made everything too obvious. The close shot at In-young feet to show how she had no shadow was terrible. People like me who look forward for reality would not be pleased at such abusive CG. In fact, particular movie was too philosophical rather than horror.
ReplyDeleteThis film contains typical Korean or Asian horro elements. From the tradition, Koreans imagine a ghost as a young female with long black straight hair and immitate the ghosts with flesh light from the bottom of a face and with whinning sound. First, sound is essential in this film. Silence and squicking or bold sound follow one another all through out the movie. Second, light plays a huge part in this movie; the light glowing from the bottom of the little girl's face gives a hint of her future, and the light creating shadow plays another element in this film. The camera undirectly shows the scene especially using shadow; viewers can see what actors are doing viewing shadow wheather the characters are talking , passing by windows, or simply being a ghost. The last, the background settings like hospital and in woods or the old hut where the murdering happened are common backgrounds in Korean horror stories. Overall, all the elements share the same purposes in this film: to make viewers imagine even beyond what the film shows.
ReplyDeleteUnlike other horror movies, Epitaph shows very extraordinary music (O.S.T) and color sense. First of all, in terms of music, generally in horror movies, people produce some special music and sounds with computer technology to make the atmosphere scarier, more dreadful and colder. On the other hand, during watching Epitaph, the music sounded really natural and even magnificent. I think the music, inserted for this movie, might not be composed of computer sounds but used various kinds of instrument to make it more specialized. (I assume that I’ve heard Korean traditional music instrument, 태평소 in this movie.) Even though the genre of this movie is horror, it enables audiences to feel not only fearful but also dream-like illusion with magical color in the movie. For example, these kinds of feeling are appeared well in the scene of the Jungnam’s spirit marriage with the already dead-daughter of the director of the hospital. This scene proceeds with the door, decorated with the beautiful drawings of the each 4 seasons, opening. This door opening means the time flow and over the door their lives after the marriage is shown. It was so impressive and extraordinary that I even felt that it was so beautiful and romantic with petals falling. Also, with the repetition of reversion, it made me surprising as much as watching Six Sense. In addition, in the horror atmosphere which is more likely to be entertainment, human-like factors are melted with the love between Dongwon and Inyoung portrayed. However, in my case, sometimes it was too difficult to perceive the relationships of each people in the movie as the story of the movie didn’t flow in a regular sequences but several small parts of the stories were mixed.
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ReplyDeleteLike "Oldboy," "Epitaph" also shows references to insects, only in "Epitaph" the images of snails and butterflies appear constantly throughout the film, up until the end. I couldn't make sense of the insects imagery until Dr. Kim gave a discussion in class about science, superstition, and the soul. He talked about how one scientist weighed people right before and right after death but in his talk he never gave away what that weight difference was. Perhaps that weight difference could be the weight of a snail, or comprising the weight difference between a snail and a butterfly. The significance of using snails in relation to people is that humans--like snails--are burdened with problems and limits in life, much like being weighed down by a shell. On the contrary, in death people leave their bodies and shells behind so as to free their souls. My speculation was confirmed in the last scene when the ghosts of the dead characters were shown lighting each others candles and heading toward the door, while the old building covered in snails begins to crumble. In other words, snails represent life and its burdens and butterflies represent free spirits or the soul for those who believe in its existence. (Anny Wong)
ReplyDeleteI always thought that korean horror movie scares the audience by sudden appearances of the ghosts. But as I was watching "Epitaph", I noticed the differences than the other korean horror movies. The sound and the background scared me a lot. For example, other horror movies start background music to lead to an event, but in this movie I believe that the music itself is scary even though it doesn't have an event. Also, besides the music the setting is scary. This is because the director used more of Japanese taste homes and the setting of the hospital looks very lonely and creepy itself. Since Japan is known for having many ghosts, just by using Japanese style home makes it scary. Also, the hospital looks very lonely, empty, and cold. I believe that the director used the setting and the music well to make it a horror movie.
ReplyDeleteEpitaph is a highly developed film with great computer graphic technique and actors’ acting ability compare to early Korean horror movies. Compare to acting skill of children actor in early films, Asako’s acting skill is very realistic. Also, instead of using actor’s facial expressions to deliver the feeling of horror, Epitah uses many different techniques, such as the mirror and shadow. Mirror starts to continuously appear in this movie starting from the scene of Park Jung Nam looking at the mirror at night, because of the gossip among the nurses in the hospital. Also, when the Asako dreams about her mom chasing her, Asako stops in front of the mirror staring at her mom who is combing her hair. The camera takes a shot of the reflection of little girl and her mother. Also, before the car accident, the camera shows the mothers face by the reflection of her small hand mirror. Camera also shoots the water reflection where Park Jung Nam and Aoi are shown. Another unique camera work is shooting the shadow. Whenever the scene Kim In Young and Kim Dong Won come out together, there is only one shadow of Kim In Young in order to show that one is does not physically exist. When they are standing at the beach, when both walks around the house where you can see the shadow on the Korean rice paper doors, and the major scene where Kim Dong Won lights up the little bench toy thing. Despite of these effects, this film also continuously shows snail and butterfly to metaphorically portray the meaning of the film. It was very interesting to see love story of daughter and mother, husband and wife, and human and soul in the horror movie.
ReplyDeleteIn "Epitaph", the cinematography is very striking. The director really took full advantage of color to create emotions in the viewers. For instance, the contrast of colors with the white wintery snow. When Asako finally recalls the accident and her mom is carrying her away from the scene show that contrast vividly. Both the mother and daughter are where white dresses and the background is white from the snow as well making the blood on their clothes pop off the screen. There is also the use of a point-of-view shot from Asako, where she sees all the dead people as she is being carried by her mother away. There is also no use of music, but only the sound of hard breathing as the mother carries away her child to safety. That last scene the viewers are left with is a top shot of the mother and child facing each other. This allows the viewers to see both characters as they reach for each others hands. The director's use of such a contrasting scene of color and top shot really allows the viewers to feel the love between the mother and daughter. It was a great scene made up of crucial shots.
ReplyDeleteYes, the film “Epitaph” had its scary and jumpy moments and several aesthetically pleasing shots, but what else? The film displayed multiple stories which overlapped vaguely and conveyed the idea of ghosts taking lives of workers in the hospital. Like a bad horror version of the film “Love Actually (2003)” the movie “Epitaph” introduced story within a story which overplayed the cliché storyline and structure- this would cause audience to murmur “I’ve seen this before somewhere”; the issue of schizophrenia which is used too often in horror films these days. The film seemed to fish for compliments via portraying aesthetically colorful scenes such as the fantasy scene of In-young aging with the dead girl in which each door represented four seasons. As each door opened, In-young and his beloved dead were depicted beautifully like a phantom. However, such aspect of the film seems to lack in its purpose: What are their functions? “A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) directed by Ji-woon Kim had similar complex story line yet stronger wrap up of it. Not to judge the film “Epitaph” in comparison to different films but in understanding the cliché of the story, it is inevitable not to do so. It is quite possible that the complex structure of the story and aesthetics of the film had a clear task as a whole, but are they worth being there when its existence is ambiguous?
ReplyDeleteThroughout the film sound was the main component to push reactions out of the audience (And often the characters) however this has become a cliche prop in most horror/suspense films. Many of the visuals were quite stunning (especially the dream/nightmare sequences) but it was the nondiegetic sound that proved to be a failing point of the film. The harsh shrieking sounds and some of the carnivalesque melodies that tried to enhance the suspense only detracted from it (our audience was not moved to screams, but to laughter because of this simple audio tropes). The nondiegetic sound which not only consisted of shrieking instruments and carnival sideshow melodies also consisted of piano clips that were meant to push the mood toward a sense of anxiety (to no avail)and move the audience into a heightened emotional state as the next figure was about to pop out of the shadows and spook the main characters. Some of the diegetic sounds such as the crying and the wind chimes were more effective in setting a more dramatic mood for the film, but the nondiegetic sound was definitely overplayed. I must admit that the lighting in this film was exceptional and allowed clear views of the (main) characters in every sequence, which is rare in most horror films. The concept of the film was quite intriguing, but executed poorly primarily because of its lack of ingenuity in the "audioscape" of the film.
ReplyDelete-James Seiling
What is interesting to note in “Epitaph” is the color contrast in each scene. Often times, the scene was dominated with either a very dark setting with vivid white standing out (the unlit morgue contrasting with Jung-Nam’s white uniform ,white walls, and white columns) or a very bright calm background (often a snowy day or a shot of the sunny beach) contrasting with dark figures. Interestingly enough, these color patterns correlated with events in the film. The dark background against white objects occurs most often when a character encounters a ghost. Not surprisingly, the purpose of this color scheme probably serves to add to the effect of a horror movie (of course a scary scene would occur in the dark). However, the bright background against dark figures seems to be more symbolic. These scenes occur most often with Kim Dong-won and Kim In-Yeong. By the end of the film we see that this couple is actually holding on to the spirit of the other and living in this fantasy world in which they are able to be together forever although one has actually been dead a year ago. Similarly, the snowy background often associated with the little girl (who is haunted by her mother) serves to reflect the dream-like images that have been plaguing her conscious. Perhaps the white background serves to partition reality from this dream-like world these characters are living in. Since the plot is rather confusing, the purpose of these color schemes might serve to help audiences delineate from the scenes that are reality and scenes that are a flashback or a fantasy world.
ReplyDeleteI am really not a big fan of Korean horror movies because most of them tend to forcefully scare the audience with uncomfortable scenes or just sudden shocking scenes that are so trite and leaves the audience with a strange awkward feeling when the movie is over. Ironically, majority of them also tend to have happy endings or give some kind of lesson at the end which is probably not an attractive aspect in a movie which goes by the genre of horror. However, the movie "Epitaph" didn't have a happy ending nor did it offer provocative frightening scenes for the audience to feel the 'blue funk'. Instead, it was this tranquil and implicit horror atmosphere that was produced to give the audience the chill and the mood to completely get drawn into the film. The first aspect I enjoyed about this film was the director's unusual repetitive camera work of the gaze into the empty dark space. The portrayals of the characters in the darkness, the portrayals of the characters who are trapped in the vague space or the purpose follow up of the characters' views into the darkness were all the components used, adequate enough to ignite the horror atmosphere. Another unique style I found very interesting was that there were quite a few scenes where you find the characters lying down on the ground, with their heads tilted to the side and facing the screen. I think this was probably the director's intention to emphasize the sadness of the individuals being left alone. By this way, the audience can feel the pain and the sorrow in those individuals who have let go of their loved ones. It also makes you think that those individuals are wanting to have someone beside them through the look in their eyes and through those repetitive scenes, we are able to feel sympathy for the left ones. Lastly, I was wondering what the appearance of snails and the black butterfly meant throughout this film. It turns out that in Japan, snails are symbols of peaceful ghosts whereas a black butterfly symbolizes a ghost with lingering affection or some kind of grudge against someone that is left over. Since snails have both the male and female genders in them and are not classified separately, this could imply that they are together forever even after their death.
ReplyDelete"Epitaph" well demonstrates how moon-jae cheol describes post-new wave korean movies-- eschewing auteurism and overt politics in favor of spectacle and technical achievement. indeed the first and most striking aspect of this film is the cinematography. on a number of occasions a slow, smooth track in from a long shot to a close-up is used, emphasizing at first the character's isolation at first, and as the camera gets closer their expression of fear. as with most horror/suspense films, epitaph relies heavily upon non-diagetic sound to heighten the audience's anxiety and to punctuate the scary parts. in one of the stabbing scenes, the director borrows the classic staccato soundtrack part from "psycho" as a sort of nod to Hitchcock's undeniable influence on the genre. speaking of genre, Epitaph is not a Korean film with horror characteristics so much as a horror film with Korean characteristics--as Moon says, "[post-new wave directors] no longer feel compelled to present all things Korean, but when they do treat Korean topics, it is through a universal cinematic language so that the world can understand." Unlike Korean new-wave films, a prior familiarity with korean culture and history is not necessary to fully appreciate Epitaph.
ReplyDeleteHowever, coming back to the political spectrum, I found interesting the portrayal of Japanese influence and culture in the film. When the dead girl pulls the character into the drawer in the morgue and the sequence where he marries and has a child with the girl occurs, the two and their child are dressed in a Japanese manner rather than in Korean hanbok. In addition, the man whom the little girl Asako's mother takes up with, is Japanese, and indirectly causes the three's death with his incursion into the family.
The plot in this movie was very difficult to follow, and often times, it was unclear who was who and which story/character we were currently watching at the time. Yet, this seemed to go hand in hand with the unfolding of the movie. The audience didn't know who the doctor really was (the wife), and the chaos in the movie was reflected in the chaotic manner in which the film was shot.
ReplyDeleteThe most capturing quote in this movie, I felt, was "Death heals all wounds...in that last moment what could have given her such peace?" This quote sets the thematic foreground for the film. Most of the characters, especially the ones that were under much stress, trauma, and/or suffering, seemed to die without much character development or leading-up-to the death. But death seemed to be the answer or the bandage to their pain. Death was also used as a way to bring people who were separated back together, i.e. through the mother who visited to monk, and also the doctor and wife.
Epitaph was different from the other movies that we have seen. The beginning was a bit confusing and I felt like there wasn't a main character in the movie, but several. The director used good audio and visual affects in the film. The music was slow and got intense at times. The sounds of crying, chimes, and screaming helped intensify the horror movie. Also when the film showed the past or future the colors were very bright and shiny. During the present, they used dim lighting. The movie was a bit confusing, but the end helped when it revealed who the real murderer was. Also, unlike every other horror film the ending wasn't scary or showed the moral of the story. Visually, the movie wasn't that horrifying because nothing really popped out at you, but I think it scared the audience psychologically with all the plot twists and crazy dreams. This movie felt like a different type of horror film that i have never seen before.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching "Epitaph" I really enjoyed how the director made the movie. Durning the scary scenes, instead of a sudden burst to frighten the viewers he used the suspense the leave the viewers feeling scared. For example, the scene where the child is laying in her bed and before you see her you hear a noise, then you see the dead mother sitting beside her bed. However, one thing that I did not like was the story about the wife and husband. I feel that they changed who was really dead and who was alive way one to many times. Also the why that the wife was walking around with no shadow seemed so extremely fake when her and the husband were walking on the street. The way that the scene when the girl is with her dead mother was made really well. How it put the story of why the girl was in the hospital and what happened.
ReplyDeleteI found the cinematography and camera movement particularly interesting in "Epitaph." First off, I found slight Ozu-like editing in the film, in the scenes where there is a shot of the word "ghosts" right after Jungnam finds the ring, and the sequence of the shot of the girl's body drawer in the mortuary right after the unnatural crying scene with the 원장님. I'm getting the chills just thinking about it right now. I also found the fleeting camera movement interesting in the sequence that shows Jungnam and his fiancee going through the different stages of life. Each of the stages were portrayed very briefly and the camera just went on over their heads, ignoring any deep, complicated emotions or thoughts they may experience. In that sequence, the camera led the audience away from each stage of their lives as quickly as it led the audience into them; the audience is taken through their life together quickly until they reach what is assumed to be death, in a white background with a white blanket covering their bodies. The scene afterward, when Jungnam is found confused alone while the girl is still dead, came across even more sad and more lonely because of the quick and "too good to be true" sequence that preceded it. To me, this sequence accentuated the idea that love is fleeting and can leave one sad and lonely afterward.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I had no idea what was going on throughout this movie. Even now after finishing the movie and thinking about it, I didn't realize a purpose. The fact that this movie had scary moments, multiple stories, flash backs, and a creepy score does not make it a good horror film. On the plus side, the way that the camera and lighting was done, I felt that it succeeded in scaring the audience. Dark corners, flashing lights, bugs, and first person views were all techniques that I felt gave me chills. An example of the camera work was when we see the boy looking into the body storage unit (?) and pulled in, we were allowed to see through the eyes of the character and felt what he felt. Overall, the fact that the stories did not coincide with each other and that the movie's ending made no sense makes me feel that the movie was a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the use of close camera shots and the use of corners in the buildings to break our view of the surroundings and the characters helped to add a large amount of suspense to this movie. Add to that the dim lighting, contrasting clothing colors and the music/sound effects all made for a very creepy suspenseful visual spectacle. One sound that was especially creepy was the sound of the hair pick used to stab the different people by the woman doctor.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this movie had a very striking visual and audio style, but lacked a solid story. Some of the things happening seemed coherent, but then things would happen that had no explanation (in what I could think of) other than that the director wanted to try and scare people even more. I think that this was incredibly counter productive. Horror films that are coherent and that flow are much more scary than ones that don't make sense at all. Overall I think that it was a decent film as far as "scary" movies go, but when compared to movies at large it was acceptable at best. One way that I think this could have been better was if he went along with the story line about the General, and the 2 married doctors from the start and made the movie about how one is dead and visiting as a ghost and still in love with the partner. This would have been much more poetic and interesting. Add to that the murders and the mystery of who was killing them and why, would have been loads better.
Without the music, this film would definitely lose the element of suspense. However, if the sound were completely gone, the film would not be completely devoid of cinematic quality. The technique of quick cuts – such as the scene where the family is at the table and then they’re suddenly gone – is unnerving. While not inherently scary in and of itself, utilizing that technique added to the ‘horror’ construction of Epitaph. This type of cutting also intensified the confusion and mystery that Epitaph attempts to induce.
ReplyDeleteThe most capturing shot that I remember is the beginning of the film when the director used a abruptly short shot of an empty dining table and the front door. These short shots captured my attention the most because of its eerie placement in the movie. The use of empty space appears dreary and dead just as I believe the director intended to use it as. The dreariness and dead space is used to portray the emptiness Dr. Park feels in his life. With his assumingly long lost love appearing secretly next to him (in the dining table scene), the noticeably short, and almost seemingly meaningless shot of the dining table are in fact very moving afterall. The emptiness of these frontal shots exemplifies the heart of Dr. Park and his feeling of nothingness in his life primarily because he rather be dead with his lover, but can not be physically with her.
ReplyDeleteIn the bloodcurdling film "Epitaph", the usage of sound dominates the visual scenes and helps the viewers predict the upcoming scenes throughout the movie. Before the horrifying scene is even projected, the viewers already predict that the alarming scene is about to be projected by listening to the music or the sound played in the film. For example, every time the little girl walks out her room, the suspenseful music starts to build up, increasing the volume to allude to a scary scene. Just by utilizing the sounds, the viewer gains the knowledge and alludes to what kind of scenes/happenings are about to be viewed. In addition, the camera angles are quickly zoomed into the characters face to only focus on them in order to scare the viewers. For example, nothing is really seen in the dark aisle of the hospital; however, the music starts to build up and the camera is unknowingly zoomed into the face of the bloody characters (ghosts) continuously throughout the film. Some specific props are also used throughout the movie to remind the viewers that something scary is about to happen. For example, each time it snows, the ghosts (dead characters) are viewed out of nowhere. By purposely repeating the use of snow, the viewers are able to hint to the scary scenes.
ReplyDeleteEpitaph is not any horror film that you could find at Blockbusters next to Friday the 13th. Usually a horror film does not contain a message to the audience, except for scaring them; however in this film, there is love, tears, and especially a noticeable theme, “loneliness.” Interrelated three stories set in Hanseng hospital in 1940s, it starts with a old man looking back his life before death. Asako is loneliness is well portrayed through her obsession with older man, in other words, father figure. Jungnam’s forced soul marriage with the director’s daughter says the director’s desire for her daughter not to be lonely, also her suicide relates to her loneliness without any family member. Lastly Dr. Kim’s insane wife’s multi personality and serial murder with a sharp weapon is created after losing her beloved husband by a surgical knife that drives her completely crazy in loneliness. In every single person, there is loneliness although at times when surrounded by many people. It is something that’s too common, so people could interpret it too easily, not as a serious illness. Chung Brothers’ attempt to find the common denominator between the film and the audience to evoke compassion towards the characters is successful, although it has lost the charisma of genuine horror film.
ReplyDeleteEpitaph was a film that was, at times, very difficult to follow. For one, there were many overlapping scenese and plots. secondly, some of the scenes were repeated twice for specific reasons I could not completely understand. Epitaph was different from any other horror film I have seen perhaps because it was the first Asian-produced horror film I have seen in its entirety. The visual aesthetics in this film was very creative. Although it was a horror movie, there were not solely dark colors dominating the movie like many films of the same genre. If anything, the color of white presented itself quite frequently throughout the film in the form of snow. Usually, white is portrayed as a pure and clean color. this contrasts with the movie in many aspects as the plot revolved around death, murder, restless souls and ghosts. The Chung Brothers may have purposely done this to portray the innocence of all those who lost their lives to showthat their deaths were unjustified, that they were innocent even in their last breath. Another feature I found interesting was that even though Park Jung-nam, the main character, found joy in drawing, only two pictures of his were ever shown. one was of his ex-fiance and the other was of a bird. The drawing of a bird reminded me of the scene where the aged Jung-nam is walking up the steps of the now deserted hospital and the camera lense zooms in on a dead bird. The correlation I thought best fitted these two birds was that the drawn bird represented Jung-nam in his youth/maturation and the dead bird forshadowed his death and his readiness for it.
ReplyDeleteI think "Epitaph" is an omnibus film with beautiful oriental scenes instead of a horror movie. The stories are typical scary stories but many scenes are so pretty that I could keep focusing on the movie. Especially I enjoyed finding red and white contrast scenes through out the movie. The first scene that catched my eyes was the hospital principal's daughter bleeding in the frozen lake. The scene of a red rose petal falling on the red spot of the lake was even romantic rather than scary. Second scene was Asako's red coat versus her mom's all white outfit. Third one was after the car accident, Asako and her mom were lying on the snow and blood soaking into their white dresses.
ReplyDeleteEven though it was sad timing that dying mom told Asako "it iss not Asako's fault and it's okay," the scene itself was pretty. Their were more similar scenes but I like these two scene most. Lastly, because of the time set, there were many "Japaneseness" scenes. Japanese style sliding doors expressed time(seaosns) passing well and the rooms were beautiful. One mysterious thing that I cannot figure out is the symbol of snails. Epitaph was visually very well-made film.
I liked “Epitaph” because it was about three short films and each story interacted perfectly with one another. I liked the way there were many symbolic meanings throughout the film. In the first short film, it repeatedly showed snails crawling around, and I think it represented the girl who had committed suicide. The main character found the snail when he had to first work in the morgue, and when he was looking at her for the first time and couldn’t put the ring back on her finger, the snail was coming out of the glass. The snails were present when something bad was about to happen or happening, where they were all over the dead girls face. I think it somewhat represented death. There were lots of foreshadowing in this movie as well, where when he finally was able to put the wedding ring on her finger was when the mother spiritually bounded her daughter to the main character. Another foreshadow was in the second short story when Asako met her new stepdad for the first time and a bus passes by before he walks over to Asako and her mother. When the doctor checked the streets to cross it, nothing was there but as soon as he started walking, a bus passed by as well as a car. I also noticed that there was a lot of white in the movie, where it was winter and there was much snow and all the doctors wore white coats as well as the mother and daughter when they got into a car accident.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting how “Epitaph” toyed with the idea of domestic life and intimate relations. The film often has the look of ostensible normalcy, with still shots of empty home interiors and an unobtrusive camera during the film’s quieter moments. Furthermore, the “monsters” in the film mostly come from within rather than without—the ghosts are not only closely related to the characters but they also intertwine consciousnesses and disturb guilty consciences. It seems that though the concept of guilt is at the core of this movie, the frequent and nonchalant transitions between “real” and dream/nightmare worlds point to a subjectivity that blurs the line between guilt and innocence.
ReplyDeleteIn this film the audience is subjected to many slow tracking shots. There is then an object that is focused on which is slowly zoomed in on. This makes the audience share the experience that the character is having. While we may not claim to believe in ghosts like many of the characters, we share the same anxiety and fear through the usage of these shots and the build up of suspenseful music. The movie does flirt with the supernatural, but always provides a logical explanation for the events occurring, making the viewer feel silly for reacting towards scary scenes.
ReplyDeleteIn general, horror movie is composed by rapid cuts which make audience feel norvous. But Epitaph is developed slowly.
ReplyDeleteAs actor's motion and cut, it takes out the feeling of fear deeply.
The three episodes commonly implicate the love. Also it imprecate that agony disappears when you died. In this movie
whoever falling in love with someone is died. Love is complete when they possess it. This movie emphasizes gloomy feeling
that is came from the life and love.
Of the many recurring symbols in the film, the most obvious one that stuck to me were snails. During Jong-nam’s flashback, we see that he latches a snail to his drawing of a live bird. Later in his life, there is a dead bird on the steps. This foreshadowing tells us that the snail represents death. Anything the snail sticks onto dies. When the snail that Jong-nam kept as a pet crawls out of its jar, it is a representation of unleashing death. As a result, we start seeing death in the film. Jong-nam’s dead fiancée’s face plastered with snails, as if to say death is written all over her face. In another scene when the spirit of Jong-nam’s “wife” appears before him before taking his life away, we see that she has stuck (like a snail) onto Jong-nam since the beginning of their “marriage,” and has weighed him down with death (his two wives before his own). In the last scene, snails are plastered all over the hospital before it is demolished. This is a symbol of the spirits of those that died in the hospital that stuck (like a snail) and dragged the hospital down to its death. Hence, snails are a symbol of death latching on.
ReplyDeleteThis film left me feeling disoriented and lost initially because of the compilation of three stories which seemingly had nothing to do with one another. However, I began to realize that not only did each story consist of gory images and spine-chilling suspense, they also had the same themes of love, death, and deep longing. Not only that, these themes vary for each story. What I mean is that the story which involves Dong-Won and In-Young contains a different type of longing and love than, say, the type of love and longing depicted in the story with the little girl. In addition, this film is obviously very beautiful in it's various frame shots of people and aethetic backgrounds. What really stood out for me were the scenes in which Koshiro and his wife are together. The colors which surround them are ever-changing and always bold. However, I found that the director used too much of the color white and black contrast in the more "scary" or thrilling scenes. A person dressed in white in a dark, black room seems a bit cliche` and I found this method to be overdone in the film.
ReplyDeleteEpitaph was the first, and hopefully the last, horror "ghost" film that I've watched. So I don't have much basis for comparison. Still, during the movie I couldn't help but notice some elements that were different from what I expected from a horror film. It WAS a ghost film. But it wasn't trying to make me afraid of the dark, but rather trying to explain the emotional scars and loneliness of the characters by manifesting such emotions into physical beings, i.e. "ghosts." Near the beginning of the movie, the old man recalls his daughter talking to him in different parts of the house, followed by an empty shot (i.e. a shot without any people) of the same place, to demonstrate the loneliness of the man.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Chung Brothers made an effort to delve into the past and story of each ghost, rather than presenting them as merely vengeful spirits. The ghost of the girl's mother, for example, soon ceased to be a bloody living corpse scaring the wits out of the girl, and soon became a mother who tried to protect and stay near her daughter in her last moments of life and even after death.
However, the film was also very effective in building up the suspense. Nothing shocking (i.e. something that pops up randomly to scare the wits out of me) happened until 30 minutes, almost 1/3, of the film had gone by, but the film used many effects to keep its audience tense and expectant every moment. For example, from the beginning, the camera tended to creep forward (or along the ground) slowly, as if from the point of view of an approaching ghost. (For example: When the old man is on the phone at his desk, the camera slowly approaches him.) There was also the stereotypical uniform-wearing female ghost, silently present and unnoticed at the dinner table. And the heavy foreshadowing, of the shattered glass, the dead bird, and the creeping snails obviously added to the buliding of tension in the film. In many shots, a specific character's face was not revealed for a prolonged time period: the grieving woman next to the monk, for example.
Lastly, I would like to add that while I thought Epitaph was a very well-made movie (except for the last "twist," which I did not think was very impressive or even necessary), and that apparently CSI has accustomed me to the sight of bloody people, I will never see a scary movie again if I can help it. The experience today was very much like riding a very, very long rollercoaster, with very, very, VERY long uphills.
I personally do not like horror movies because I am a little fainthearted person. However, to look at the movie itself except the sudden surprise of the ghosts and fearful scenes, Epitaph is a really well made movie. First, Epitaph has impressive timeline. The movie starts from the story of the day before, then two days before, three days before, and finally everything flows all the way through the present again. This time flow makes the audience to get a little confused which story is linked to which, and what is real and what is imaginary. Also, this confusion leads to certain level of horror.
ReplyDeleteAs for the original Korean title “기담,” this movie has a weird image by showing the clear line between reality and non-reality rather than smudging those two. Usually many horror movies mingle those two to magnify the audience’s fear, as people tend to feel scarier when it’s not sure if it’s real or not, but Epitaph intentionally shows off the borderline. But the interesting part is that non-reality—the world of spirit, dead, and imagination—is depicted in a warmer, prettier background than the reality. Most of the scenes in reality have cold, blue-toned screening, but scenes “that” side of the world have warm, dreamy shoots. Maybe this contrast means people see the imagination and ghosts because the truth—the reality—is so hurting for them. Maybe it is the “loneliness” that calls those unreal souls to feel “warm” although it cannot be warm in reality.
Epitaph is a film that employed many different characteristics found in contemporary horror movies. For example, the coupling of appropriate slow cryptic music and the use of dark and unrevealing lighting allows the viewer to experience a sense of mystery and fear. However, I would not classify this movie as a scary one because of the presence of a somewhat broken narrative which asks the viewer to put together the storyline. The situation presented in the film was actually difficult to follow as time does not move in a linear fashion. There is also a lack of focus on a main character. This movie should be classified as a mystery because of these reasons. Overall, it was interesting to note the presence of qualities usually found in horror films as well as the seemingly unconventional method of presenting the main story.
ReplyDeleteThere is a close relationship between fantasy and death in the film. In the first story, the boy enters a fantasy that he and the girl have a fulfilling, loving life together, yet in the end he realizes in horror that he is kissing a dead corpse. In the second story, the young girl fantasizes about being with the father, yet this ends with their death and later it is realized that she was indeed responsible for their death. In the third story, the wife fantasizes that her husband did not die, and thus kills herself in the end when she realizes the truth. In the end of each story, when the truth is revealed there is death or a horrific realization. This is related to how people “believe in souls so it wouldn’t be depressing” (said by doctor in lecture). People fantasize about the after-life, of being souls, of heaven and hell, to quiet their fears of the unknown, of death. Yet the truth is revealed that this can be a deceptive fantasy and that not “everything lasts forever” (last line of film).
ReplyDeleteThe film starts with the footage of a neurosurgery, in black and white, without sound. Then time goes back to the year 1942, the period of Japanese colonization. Koreans and Japanese are portrayed without a clear distinction. Unless the names of the characters are provided, it is difficult to figure out the nationalities of the two. Also, scenes such as Jungnam’s imaginary marriage life with Aoi are set in abstract space. Although the film is set in Kyongsong mostly, it portrays some places that seem to be Japanese. Throughout the film, scenes repeat and the flow of time is unclear. As the film depicts different stories of different characters in non chronological order in fast pace, the film provides much confusion. One interesting feature of this film is the use of sound effects. In one of the scenes of Inyoung and Dongwon, the very typical horror movie sound effect was used which immediately reminded me of the other horror movies (of Hollywood, Japanese, Korean). This aspect definitely shows the influence of other films in making Epitaph.
ReplyDeleteSo many loose ends and so many plots overwhelm this film that by the end the actual story is unclear (at least upon only viewing the film once). The film’s purpose seems to lie in the portrayal of innovative ideas based on a number of themes including loneliness, humanity, and life, rather than in plot and an overarching message. Like many of the characters, the audience is left dislocated and rather rattled, or even “spooked out” of normalcy, thus making the film’s impact both psychological and physical. Repetition of motifs perpetuated throughout, including: red against white, blood against skin, lightness against darkness, and life against death. Snails, earthly and healthy creatures, pitched against death and stagnation strangely enough act to terrify. Most psychologically jarring is the constant identity conflicts that happen within a single character. As the doctor becomes the wife becomes the doctor so many times, eventually the audience is left not knowing who to believe anymore. It is as though the audience can trust no one. In fact even time cannot be trusted – so many flashbacks and too many references to time confuse so greatly that the references of time purposefully serve not to organize but rather to disconnect and befuddle. Irony pervades: sociable and likeable butterflies are associated with murder and death, while a hospital is infested with morbidity and the sinister, and the good characters without any warning become the evil and cursed. So Much Violence. It certainly does effectuate shock and horror but decisively does not reach any resolution – this is perhaps what the Chung Brothers intended, but at the same time such a purpose can only last for so long. Multiple shots from varying perspectives of a character undergoing intense fear or suspicion are extremely effective in delivering terror to the audience as it conveys the impression that hidden others of whom the audience is unaware are also watching the character from all angles. The existence of any main character is questionable – this in itself challenges the idea of direction in reality.
ReplyDeleteThe ghosts found in J-Horror films derive from folktales around the eighteenth century. They were a mash up of Chinese and Japanese Buddhist ghost stories that were supposed to be strangely grotesque and eerie. Throughout history, Korea never really had a national identity. It wasn't even until after the Korean War where Korea finally gained national independence and cultural freedom. And even prior to Japan's occupation in Korea, Korea was always dominated and influenced by China and Japan. So for me, this film is about Korea adopting a kind of superstitious belief from the Japanese. Japanese superstition/spirituality imported into Korea ends up killing Japanese soldiers in Korea during their occupation and the film is made by Koreans...? It's twisted and starts becoming just a grotesque mashup just like the film that eventually eats it self up. So the ghosts in this film are like monster terrorist that embody the fears and paranoia of the Korean people. Except the monsters are Japanese and they kill Japanese which is like ultimate fantasy for Koreans during the colonial period.
ReplyDeleteThe movie "Epitaph" is a series of different stories compiled into one narrative. Each story has a different outcome, but is webbed together like a "Pulp Fiction" or "Crash" would. Except the movie would encircle the psychologically-tense horror genre and therefore many viewers wouldn't see the masterful story depicted in the telling of three love stories. The main character introduced in the film, is the old man, but the film centers around the certain time period of Japanese occupied Korea inside Aensang Hospital. It would be eerie for a hospital to be set in a quiet environment, during time period when Japan was at war in Asia. One thing that caught my attention, was the fact that all three stories correlated with each other in a subtle way. Minus the main character's story, the other two stories with the mother/daughter and husband/wife, connected with the main character's tale. The main character was married to a dead woman and had imaginary moments, where he thought he had a daughter. The beginning of the film, there were cuts to the father and daughter eating a meal, with a "third" character in a school girl uniform, although her face was not shown. then a cut to the same dinner table, but empty. The same in the hallway when the daughter was leaving. The director wanted to show the mysterious pretense in the beginning, so by the end, the audience could fit the pieces together. the whole time, just like the other characters, he was living a life with ghosts already. He even was a professor as well teaching a class, just like his 'professor (serial killer)'. The young girl, Asako, also was living as a ghost as well, after the doctor sees her come out of the trolley after the accident. The director of the film wanted to share the message, that even when people are living, they still live with their ghosts, which is in a way disturbing.
ReplyDeleteOne weak point I found in the movie we watched, is the fact that it tried to have one central protagonist for three separate stories. The weak correlation between the stories by having characters placed in the same setting and having relationships between each other did not make the movie that much more coherent as a whole. Also, I did not see the point of going through part of the plot and then going through it once again backwards. It may have made it suspenseful, but with careful directing the same kind of suspense could have been made in a linear and coherent fashion.
ReplyDeleteI usually don't pay much attention to horror films in general, but having watched "Epitaph," I noticed a certain significance about its style. It seems that Asian films like to correlate different stories of different people and connect them all together in the end to create a type of eerie moment. I noticed how the lighting was a crucial factor of the film, and though it was hard for me to understand the sequence of the story, I feel that the film was able to deliver the type of fear and eeriness it meant to provide to the film watchers.
ReplyDeleteEpitaph is a great example of the genre and type of horror that is characteristic of Korean cinema. Rather than going for overwhelming gore like the American Saw series and Friday the 13th series, Korean films deal more with physical and imagined manifestations of physchological and subconscious fears. It is not the fact that the viewer can be convinced that the movie's circumstances can happen in real life that is scary, it is the fact that it is the minds of the characters themselves that trap them in this living nightmare that really grabs viewers. It really touches upon a fear that I think every person has: the fear of what can happen in one's own mind, where there is no physical protection to save you. I've found that most Korean "horror" movies have used this theme to better reach their viewers. The use of physchological fears not only gives the director and writers more leniency, but also lends a sense of legitimacy to the events depicted in the movie. Who is to say that a large enough trauma wouldn't be enough to make Asako really live through those nightmares as a coping device for her grief and guilt? Also, the broadness of physchological fears lends itself to innovation more than does your average "try to figure out the serial killer" genre. I really enjoy this aspect of Korean cinema, and I believe this genre best contributes to Korea's rise in cinematic legitimacy. I thouroughly enjoyed the film, but it doesn't change the fact that I can't really sleep...
ReplyDeleteBefore I comment on anything about this movie, I would like to say that I personally do not give much credit for the horror movies.
ReplyDeleteWith such critical view in mind, I liked this film "better than other horror movies." I could definitely see the directers' trying to grant some meanings as well as convey their thoughts throughout the film. Even though I still think horror movies serve as nothing more than just to scare the audience, there was a scene that I thought was worth noting. That is the scene after JunNam is taken by the dead teenage girl, it shows what JungNam's life will be in four different stage with four different background where each of them represent a season: spring, summer, fall, and winter.
There were several scenes where I thought they must have some meanings behind, but I couldn't really figure out what they are suppose to mean such as scene where snails or a butterfly is used. And I still think horror movies are meant to just scare off the audience.
JunHwan Kim
“Epitaph” was a suspenseful movie that utilized many special effects to intensify the quality of the movie. In regards to the thriller aspect of the film, I felt that the high-level of anticipation of what’s going to happen next in the film was enhanced by specific visuals and sound. For instance, playing with color contrasts like red blood against white snow or a pitch black room against white light seeping through the cracks of a door adds to the eeriness and upbeat aspect of the movie. Another play with color is found during the movie when In-Young is shown to not own a shadow; thus, the lack of color contrast in this sense intensified the movie. In terms of the actual storyline of the film, I was honestly lost and could not follow each separate character. Furthermore, I did not understand why certain scenes, such as the doctor getting hit by a car, was shown multiple times throughout the film; however, I felt that the message the film was trying to give across is that death brings peace and a sense of closure to all ends, grievances, and even understanding.
ReplyDeleteKorean people believe that ghost are have한 and they are living in between this life and eternity, because of retaliation or unacceptable about their death. Because of this belief, Korean scary movies are different than American movies. Not only this movie is dealing with ghost but also it has directors describe the scary scenes differently. An artistic atmospheres are fairly brings uprush of fear and it made audience to have a sensation of fear by visually. Such as “Epitaph” is well demonstrate Korean version of ghost movie. In this movie, I recognize that the parts where the ghosts appear are conveying by the characters expressions, sounds, and atmospheres. There are a few parts where the cameras zoom out the angle from characters’ back, this technique carries a sensation of fear too. Secondly, the movie has three different stories. Each story has 한 and the ghosts are sending back the death to the alive people, but the each story has ‘love’ in characters. Once people died with love, they return with love and die again with those how did not died when they died or they show their 한 by killing people; which shows people’s loneliness in life and eternity.
ReplyDeleteThrough out the movie, the ghosts are well portrays ghost’s image and the music (O.S.T) illustrates scary mood. I never enjoy watching ghost movie, because I am afraid of ghost, but I like some parts that the movie has beautiful scenes in it. Also, the directors give the message that people are lonely and we do not want to accept or not accept some happenings.
Epitah is a Korean film made of 3 short stories about the staff and patients of Anseung Hospital. The film is narrated by an old man who starts off the movie by saying he is dead, letting the viewers know that the story is being told by a ghost about his past. The storyline is somewhat hard to follow since the narration moves quickly from past to present and back and forth. In my opinion, this movie is more of a scary movie rather than a horror film. This movie did not raise your heart beat like horror films should, and did not make you sit at the edge of your seat ready to jump out of it screaming. The scenes did not have any frightening aspect to them and it just did not seem like the director’s intention was to create a movie that will keep you up at night scared after watching it. However I believe it was the plot of the movie which startled the viewers. The darkly lit backgrounds, the scenes shown through the TV screen, the eerie architecture and surroundings, and the autopsy room created some tension enough to call it a scary movie since it was fear from the unknown, the viewers did not know what to expect from them. Also the sound effects such as the lights going out suddenly, high-pitched loud sounds, and woman crying gave the movie some spook factor. Snow, snail, and butterfly all have symbolic meanings in this movie. Whenever Asako has nightmares and meets with her loved ones, there is snow or it is snowing and also the scene of the doctor’s car accident had snow in the background. Plus, the snow globe represents the characters In-young and Kim Dong-Won. And the last scene is of the dead people walking down a long hall way towards a door that leads outside to where it is snowing.
ReplyDeleteThis film was an interesting film in which the Chung brothers used various techniques to create the genre of horror in this film. Through the weird twists evident in these three stories, the theme of death and how it is the ultimate healer of wounds is revealed. This is portrayed in certain events such as Asako dying and Dr. Lee seeing her smile on the train signifying her escape from all the suffering from guilt, Dr. In Young committing suicide to escape the tragedies of her subconscious mind, and Jung Nam dying at the end showing his escape from loneliness and despair of not being with his deceased fiancee. As for identifying this film under the genre of horror, the use of visual effects throughout the film contribute to this and also sets the eerie tone. The Chung brother accomplish this through certain creepy shots such as long hallways, flickering lights, shadowy rooms, and half lit rooms or dark areas that make part of the background hidden. Along with the visual effects, the sound effects used also contribute to identifying this film as horror. For example, the music steadily getting louder as people open doors or search for something to evoke a feeling of anticipation from the audience to be frightened. Also, the various sounds of cries, screams, and knocks are used to further create the eerie atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteComparing to other films, "Epitah" had a long introduction. People in Anseng hospital have each story. The ghosts we see in this film are their loved ones in past who were dead. Since each story is not related to another story, the film should had paid more attention to develop the stories from one to another. The reminiscent scenes used as tool made me miserable. However, instead of using subtitles often, such as "2 years ago", adopting the techniques of opening the doors in succession was fictional, yet an alternative way to show the character's lapse of time. "Epitah" had lots of symbolic elements. A dead magpie in the beginning represented Jungnam's death. A petal at autopsy seemed to represent the compassion, the sorrow and the love. Aoi's ring was a speechless conversation between Jungnam and Aoi. I couldn't figure the meaning of snails until the end. The snowball showed the happiness between Inyoung and her husband, and at the same time, it told audience Inyoung (her husband) didn't have a shadow which increased the curiosity of audience about the further story.
ReplyDeleteEpitaph is a very unique film. Park Chanwook said that one movie that cannot be made in Korea is a movie about the benefits that came from colonization of Korea by Japan. This film, although not directly, sheds light to certain benefits of the colonization period. Kim Jungwon and Kim Inyoung both received benefits of education in Japan and returned to Korea. The wealth and freedom people enjoy are quite contrasting to the restraints of "koreanness" shown in "Seopyonjae". The Japanese officers are not the oppressors but are the ones that make the serial killing stop. Even though the serial murder had a scent of anti-Japanese sentiment, it is erased by the murder of nurse Choi. Epitaph is not a simple ghost story but rather a tale of souls. These souls that rech out to the living through the force of "han" that trenscends them into horrific figures. Each character have their own tragedy and these tragedies turn into a horror story.
ReplyDeleteEpitaph is a very unique horror movie. First, it deals with three different stories that eventually connect together under the theme of love. Although this film is supposed to be scary, it also contains melodramatic featues. Especially, the scene where Asaco's mother tells Asaco "it was not your fault" draws tears out of the viewers' eyes. Moreover, the film uses symbolism such as butterfly and snail in order to stimulate the viewers' curiosity. Lastly, different from most other scary movies, Epitaph makes the scene in which ghosts appear long. Because of this characteristc, the ghosts have stronger impact on the viewers so that the viewers cannot relax throughout the whole movie.
ReplyDeleteNote: to whoever used the internet to know what really happened the movie and to answer all your questions I strongly suggests not reading this coz it might just confuse you a lot more.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading all the comments on this page not all my questions are answered. first I strongly believe that asako was killed by someone... maybe for instance she is over-dosed by the director the reason being the cause of the death of her family is asako and it seems to me taht the director is a relative of asako, given that the doctor updates the director about the progress of asako and upon realization that she isthe cause of the death of her mother and stepdad and the old lady that they accidentally crashed into, revenged by killing the girl. coz why would she be staring in the picture of asako, harboring all the guilt and sadness she then commits suicide. so the mother of asako might be the sister of director., Since all the ghost present on this movies are somewhat made up by the characters.. being the 1st one with the dead fiancee just to add up on the horror genre instead of him getting sucked by the girl it is the opposite Jun takes out the body of his fiancee and had sex with her not just kiss, that explains why he is naked. .. I also strongly believes that the one who hit and run the doctor is somewhat related to the story. the doctor might felt that theres something wrong about the death of asako and decided to investigate further but then killed so not to learn the truth or it might just really be an accident by the running BF of the dead fiancee since her bf body was not found we can assume that her BF is alive and tricked her in commiting double suicide instead decided to stay alive.