[HanCinema's Film Review] "Grendel"

Quite an obscure title despite its crime-thriller premises, "Grendel' actually screened in a number of festivals around the world, netting a plethora of awards, as juries seemed to have appreciated the intricate narrative that allows it to move beyond its budget limitations.

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A psychology professor is murdered with a method called "Murder Game" involving three coins, which was described in the novel "Sigmund" of one of his students, Han-joon. The latter suddenly starts gaining popularity, particularly as soon as the press gets invested in the story, with his publishers being overjoyed and wishing to capitalize on the events as much as possible. In the meantime, Min-seol, a rather intense guy, has already approached Han-joon, insisting that he changes the ending of the book. As soon as a second murder occurs, Ha-neul, a reporter, convinces the author to allow her to tag along with him for as long as the whole thing keeps up, in exchange for her help in dealing with the press. A young editor, Jeong-hyeon, soon also gets involved with him, with Han-joon helping her with her career as much as he can. Eventually, he receives a blackmail from a mysterious man that mentions about his secrets and promises to bring him down unless he tells who the real killer is, while a police profiler suspects that the author is hiding something.

Allow me to start with the negative aspects of the movie. Apart from the obvious low budget that makes it look like a TV movie, there are too many characters and episodes here, in one of the trademarks of Korean cinema, who result, though, in an overly complicated case that suffers even more from the overall pacing. This essentially means that the viewer must not lose a moment from what is happening on screen even if they are to follow the story and its abundance of twists.

Although these factors would probably deem the movie a failure, there are a number of elements here that allow it to move beyond its faults, to a point at least. The main one is the various social and philosophical comments presented through the story. The way fame works in literary circles, and essentially in show business, is the central one here, with the way the author, the publishing house and the press exploit the murders in order to gain fame and money making a rather eloquent remark. Conjunctively, Yoon Han-min also comments on human nature on a number of levels, with obsession, the need for fame, and the extremes people are willing to reach in order to achieve their goals being the main "representatives" of this aspect. At the same time, the way people can pretend to be something completely different than they actually are and the way beauty and romance can cloud people's perception of others, cement the quite intricate commentary here.

Furthermore, the editing, despite the aforementioned issues, creates a sense of disorientation that works quite well for the mystery that encompasses the story and the many plot twists that appear throughout it.  On the other hand, the low budget of the movie does not help the few action scenes, although the saturated colors that dominate here work quite well in terms of visuals.

Director Yoon Han-min also kept the leading role for himself, in a choice that seems to work for the movie in general. Kim Tae-hyeon-I as Min-seol is, however, the one who steals the show with his mysterious demeanor, while Kim Ga-eun-II as Jeong-hyeon is frequently captivating, also due to the transformation she exhibits.

Yoon Han-min took a rather intense burden upon his shoulders, with him also being the writer of the script, in a decision that did not help the final outcome. However, the unusual approach to the narrative as much as the overall commentary here deem "Grendel" a film worth watching, particularly for the viewer who is willing to give 100% of his attention to the story.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

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"Grendel" is directed by Yoon Han-min, and features Kim Tae-hyeon-I, Kim Ga-eun-II, Yoon Han-min, Joo Bo-young, Nam Tae-hoon, Seo Dong-bok. Release date in Korea: 2017/11/23.