By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Kim Gok | Kim Sun
Starring: Choi Ah-ra | Ham Eun-jung | Hwang Woo Seul-hye | Jin Se-yeon | Kim May Doni | Pyeon Jung-su
Original language title: Hwa-i-teu: Jeo-woo-eui Mel-lo-d
Country: south_korea
Year: 2012
Running time: 126
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1984177/
Jason says: “A girl-group horror movie isn’t really a bad idea at all: You’ve got pretty girls, who are highly competitive by nature to fuel any issues between them, and a bunch of settings and situations where people could be killed or maimed that haven’t really been mined that much. The cyclical nature of the business makes something coming from the past a potentially nifty hook. Hopefully someone else will give it a go, because it can be done much better than WHITE.
“Pink Dolls isn’t a bad girl group, but in the competitive Korean pop music scene, it’s too consciously cute compared to the more overtly sexy likes of Pure et al. Still, one agent (Pyeon Jung-su) sees something in them, moving them into a house to practice together in preparation for upcoming talent competitions and TV spotlights. It’s there that Eun-ju (Ham Eun-jung), the oldest of the group in her mid/late twenties, discovers an old VHS tape that features an unknown group performing ‘White’, a catchy tune that could still work today. So they appropriate it, with energy-drink-addicted Jenny
(Jin Se-yeon), pretty face A-rang (Choi Ah-ra), and bitchy former Pure back-up Shin-ji (Kim May Doni) vying to be lead vocal. Ah, but it appears the song is cursed, with Eun-ju and best friend/voice coach Sun-ye (Hwang Woo Seul-hye) discovering that the group that recording it died in a fire… In this. Very. House!
“The twenty-first century music industry and manufactured groups like Pink Dolls are perhaps easy targets, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still ripe ones. To a certain extent, I must plead ignorance; I didn’t pay much attention to the likes of MTV and pop music when I was young enough for it to be targeted to me, and that’s American pop. Modern Korean pop seems like a different, even more regimented beast, and for all I know, things like the ‘Survival Challenge’ reality TV show mean a lot more to WHITE’S’s native audience than a guy pushing 40 on the other side of the planet. Filmmaker
brothers Kim Sun and Kim Gok still score a few points even I can catch, though, with somewhat pointed observations on just what a machine pop music is and how cutthroat things are even within a single group, while also showing enough of the commitment and hard work necessary to make
the characters sympathetic.
“The thing is, the Kims are also trying to make a horror movie, and they sometimes seem to have a very hard time putting together a good one. There’s a rhythm to these things, popping jump scenes in at the right moment, building up people losing their minds while still leaving enough room to shock the audience when the bottom actually does fall out, setting horrible things up and showing it on screen – that the Kims really seem to struggle with. They over-complicate things, with certain characters being taken off the board but not actually being dead, showing back up, and then being killed practically
off-screen. It’s got moments – the gal behind me did, in fact, jump, and there’s one kill that elicited a sadistic smile – but WHITE is often an argument that this isn’t as easy as it looks.
“The cast isn’t bad. Ham Eun-jung may feel like stunt casting in Korea (she’s a member of ‘T-ara’ when not acting), but she’s a likably insecure protagonist here, working especially well with Hwang Woo Seul-hye to create a believable, tight friendship in a genre that sometimes doesn’t do that well. Kim May Doni, Jin Se-yeon, and Choi Ah-ra occasionally have a hard time differentiating themselves beyond what the script does to make their falling victim to the curse ironic, but manage well enough. Peyon Jung-su and Kim Young-min make themselves memorable in smaller roles.
“Maybe folks who know and love/hate K-pop (or pop music in general) will get enough from the satiric elements to enjoy WHITE more than I did. Heck, maybe that will even make the horror elements better. I kind of doubt the latter, though – this seems very much like a case of an interesting idea for a movie falling victim to not really knowing how the genre works. 2 cats
“Seen 1 August 2012 in Concordia University Theatre Hall (Fantasia 2012, DCP)”