Genre: Thriller, Crime, Suspense
Starring:
Sung-keun Moon …. Detective Oh Sung-ho
Jeong-hwa Eom …. Jung Soon-jung
Oh-jung Kwon …. Detective Jung
Release year: 2005
Language: Korean
Subtitle: English
SYNOPSIS:
When a woman is killed in a department store, the authorities hope that it's an isolated incident, but two days later, another homicide occurs. This time around, a woman is suffocated to death. And thus, a series of murders start to take place in Kangnam, a high class neighborhood in Seoul. The only clue left behind at the crime scene is a children's sticker, depicting the cartoon character "Princess Aurora." Oh, a veteran detective in the violent crimes division, who believes that the beautiful Jung Sun Jung is the real culprit behind this terrible killing spree. However, Detective Oh knows more than he lets on, as he neglects to tell anyone in the department, including his partner, that Sun Jung is his ex-wife! If she's really the killer, what's her motivation? And will Oh be able to bring her to justice?
RATING: 8.5/10
REVIEW:
"...What keeps “Princess Aurora” from slipping into cheap exploitation is measured direction by first-time writer/director Eun-jin Bang (“301/302″), a former actress who shows good command of the cinematic tools at her disposal. The film’s only real shocking moment comes early, when Soon-jung ferociously pounce her victim in the mall bathroom. And while the rest of “Aurora” is nowhere near as bloody, that initial burst of shocking violence sets the stage for the movie’s unpredictable nature, as if Bang is telling us that anyone, at anytime, can become one of Soon-jung’s victim. The fact that Bang refuses to give us quick answers as to why these people are being targeted makes the mystery all the more engaging.
The primary reason why “Princess Aurora” works as well as it does is because of the tour de force performance of star Jeong-hwa Eom (“Mr. Handy”), who continues to prove herself an amazingly versatile actress. Eom’s Soon-jung is a woman filled with rage, but you wouldn’t know it to look at her. The exterior façade that she allows others to see in public hides seething anger, uncontrolled violence, and most of all, a shattered soul. She is, without question, a destroyed woman trying to take as many of those responsible with her as she can before the inevitable end. All the credit in the world goes to Jeong-hwa Eom, who singularly carries, as well as make “Princess Aurora” more than the material.
This brings us to the script, which is excellent when it focuses entirely on Soon-jung’s quest, but falters when it has to bring others into Soon-jung’s world. There’s “Tube” star Oh-jung Kwon’s Detective Jung, who is initially written to be a major part of the story, but ends up doing little more than running about in the background. Also open to debate is the South Korean police’s seemingly ludicrous policies. When it’s revealed that Oh is the ex-husband of a serial killer still at large, Oh’s superiors have no qualms about letting him remain an active participant in the investigation. And then there’s a gratuitous sex scene early in the film that seems to be entirely devoid of any purpose whatsoever.
Overall, “Princess Aurora” is one of the better cop thrillers you’ll find out of South Korea at the moment. It’s not a procedural in the traditional sense, and if anything the film seems clueless about real police work. Not that it matters, because writer/director Eun-jin Bang has fashioned a fantastic debut film buoyed by a powerhouse performance from star Jeong-hwa Eom as the film’s serial killer with a cause. In a year of mediocre romantic comedies, derivative ghost stories, and tedious melodramas, it’s a wonder the Koreans still know how to make such an effective and entertaining thriller, much less two in the same year — Bang’s “Princess Aurora” and Park’s “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance”."
Source: BeyondHollywood
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