The Call is honestly got its story very well structured. The first half pretty much binds me to the characters; The second half brought my emotions up and down with its drama but to be honest, I'm already bored with drama material from South Korea, it's still effective but now I'm starting to dislike it. The third half starts to become pure thriller, then hmm ... okay, until here I realized, I have to start watching less Korean films.
So in the end, I got mixed feelings, I neither love it or hate it, but sure this is worth to watch.
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The Call has a lot of pros, not gonna lie. The acting is amazing, especially from Jeon Jong Seo. Her character is truly the best part of the whole production. You end up loving and hating her at the same time. Jong Seo's portrayal of the initial vulnerability that moves into the direction of desperation and then madness is an intriguing ride.
Park Shin Hye is good. As good as in any other production she was in the past few years, as she is playing exactly the same character. Kind of strong and driven to survive, but not really. Sometimes making smart choices, but that are built on a chain of dumbness. There isn't anything fresh or interesting about her.
The other characters are barely there, only serving the purpose of moving the plot forward or being an external motivation for the two main characters.
The visuals - truly stunning. That's the part of the production that shows a lot of work and planning. The moments when two worlds are colliding and affecting each other was done in an exciting and beautiful way.
So what is the problem?
I'm fairly certain that Lee Chung Hyun did not have a storyboard for this project and he could not decide what exactly are the rules of the time. He presents a linear concept of time (compared to "alternative universes"), when past events affect future events. One reality, but two different points in time. But the way the movie presented the concept was as if the two timelines were parallel and progressing the same way.
Currently happening event in the past affects the currently happening event in the present, but we don't see how the past plays and affects the present in between these events, as if the time between these two events does not exist. The past is the past. Seo Yeon should have access to all the information about the events that happened, not just the ones currently happening in the parallel timeline. Not to mention the fact Seo Yeon had no memories of the past events that affected her. Why?
All events in the movie happened in the linear way, except for the ending. Which was also not explained. The plot twist just opened the door to so many plot holes. If you could call the past at any given time on that timeline, why didn't Seo Yeon use it to her advantage?
The more I think about the way the plot was structured and the time connection explained, the more I get annoyed. It truly looks as if no time was put into making sure the events follow any line of logic. On the surface, it's the basic "action-reaction" deal. But when you start asking questions, you see that time travel/connection plot lines cannot follow this simple logic, because that's what makes them illogical. As time is not that simple...
Anyway, I can see why people enjoyed the movie. It was entertaining for most parts even though quite predictable. If you won't try to understand the logic behind the events or the rules of the time aspects, you will like it. So, the piece of advice: put your brain on the shelf before starting it.
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Interesting concept, but...
[Disclaimer]: this review is based on my personal opinion of the film.The concept of the film was definitely interesting and I was looking forward to watching it, when I finally got into the mood for a movie of this kind. However I do have to say I was slightly disappointed with how the story turned out. The opened ending was nice and somewhat unexpected but I do think it could have been handled a little differently.
The acting of the main characters was 10/10, though. Emotions they were portraying felt real and it sucked me into the world of the film along with the cinematography and production design. Visually, the film was really good.
Unfortunately, this film has zero rewatch value for me. There was nothing left untold for me that would require me to come back to, or an scene that I would wish to see again. The sound design wasn't too memorable for me either.
In the end, I think this film is worth watching for people, who like this genre but it's not going to be on the top of my list for movies I've watched, sadly.
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Nice one ?
STORY:The cliche idea with a different approach. The shooting was good and the dark decor suits the spooky face of the movie
ACTING:
I'm not a Park Shin Hye fan, but the movie looked really interesting. By my opinion this and #Alive are her best performance till now.
After I saw the mandarin scene in Burning I was waiting for next Jeon Jong Seo movie. I'm not disappointed.
MUSIC: Suits the movie!
If you are looking for good thriller movie that won't bother you during the night. Go and have fun.
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Quite the masterpiece
I loved every single minute of this movie. The leads did possibly the best job I've ever seen, their emotions were so on point every time. The storyline was so smooth, intriguing but most of all, GRIPPING. It leads to a buildup of emotions that, by the end of the movie, I felt so overwhelmed. There are plotholes but every other amazing aspects of the movie makes up for the little flaws. However! The post credit scene ruined a bit of the movie for me bc it brought a little confusion and disappointment. Nonetheless, I will simply pretend it doesn't exist.Was this review helpful to you?
Amazing acting
The first thing I'll say is that this is not similar to Signal, the only similarity they share is that the past and the present was connected through phone but every other thing is different.That being said, Park Shin hye blew me away with her acting in this movie, wow. She is one of the actresses i like and i know she is a great actress despite what some people say about her but this movie made me realise that she hasn't even shown a quarter of her talent all this while. She was amazing in Call. She showed every emotion she was feeling through her eyes and you will feel everything with her. Kudos to her for making us live the nightmare with her.
Jun jong-seo was an absolute delight in this movie, I'm adding her to the list of actresses i stan. I saw her in Burning and i thought she was good but Call shows her in another light, her acting here will make you want to empathize with her even though she is supposed to be a bad person.
The mothers too did their part especially Lee El, that woman is good.
This is a movie that will stay with me for a long time and i know I'll rewatch it many times.
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I was sucked in once again and was kinda mad at myself for forgetting about it.
From the moment it started I was completely sucked in. Even though I felt like I had seen something similar to it before, I couldn't put my finger on it - and still haven't. I think this movie is really unique in that way.
While settings and timelines were at a minimum, you felt every moment in each scene which is really hard to do and it always blew my mind at how different it was. I wish I could go into more detail about this but I don't want to give to much away.
I'm not really big on thrillers, in fact, I hate them. but the bit of supernatural (I guess you could call it that) toss in really made the movie and kept me around because it really made me question what and how this was all happening.
The production and the acting was award winning. Even the plot and storyline was amazing ....had it not ended the way that it did. I was happy with the ending until they tossed in that "extra" during the credits. Like.... WHY?! Why did you do that? Now I am just confused. Maybe I am overthinking it? I don't know. But I have a headache now and it ruined the whole thing for me and turned a great movie with sealed deal.. into a open ending nightmare.
I doubt there will be a second movie, but gah I wish there was so it would explain that!
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This review may contain spoilers
I’ve had this on my watchlist since March or April. It starred the most popular actresses in South Korean in Park Shin-hye alongside Jeon Jong-seo who starred in one of my all time favourite films, ‘Burning’. So the cast was what intrigued me but the plot is what hooked me. The synopsis is very broad and vague. Same with one of the trailers that I caught - at least compared to what actually happens in the film. This is Lee Chung-hyun’s first full length feature after a few short films, including Blue Dragon Nominated ‘Bargain’, and I must say that I thought it was excellent. The Call has me feeling very eerie and sort of distributed for large parts of the film. As we see our two characters, Young-sook & Seo-yeon, start talking with each other and connecting, we get hints of something stranger. Both bond throughout their isolation over the phone. It’s all nice. Seo-yeon teaches Young-sook about the internet, smartphones. Young-sook offers treats and sweats from the past. But there are lingering consequences, hints from other characters that go in the ear and out of the ear on first hearing but will cause disaster later in the film. We start to see the repercussion of changing one's destiny. The Call did a great job at keeping you invested into the characters and the journey of seeing them be friends to something very dark. Young-sook is an abused (constantly tortured both physically and mentally) person due to her mental illness, which brings me back to the aforementioned key info that proved to be pivotal later. How is she ill? We don’t know, *yet*. All we feel is sympathy for her due to her evil Stepmom, and that’s the sucker. The Call has two protagonists that are both likeable until we don’t. The film has a tremendous twist that explores what has been set up and makes for a tremendous and nervous viewing. That ending had me clapping. Honestly, the final act, to me, was the weakest act of the film but the twist added a whole new dimension to the film. And turned a usually predictable ending into a brilliant one.
Jeon Jong-seo proved that her magnificent performance in Burning wasn’t just beginners luck. She again wow’d me in her gripping and convincing portrayal of Young-sook. The character itself is different from the first half of the film and the second half but in a subtle way. Almost unnoticeable until it’s too late. Incredibly sly and wicked. Well done to her. Two films; two tremendous performances.
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Suspenseful thriller with excellent acting from Park Shin Hye & Jeon Jong Seo
I watched this for Park Shin Hye, but came out a huge fan of Jeon Jong Seo. Wow. They both acted so well.Like people have said, it's a similar concept to the drama Signal in where there is a parallel/time travel aspect happening through a phone call. From the 2nd half on, I felt like I was holding my breath the entire time. It was so creepy and suspenseful.
Jeon Jong Seo. I get why there is buzz about this rookie actor. This is only her 2nd film and her acting is so mesmerizing. She embodies her character and has such depth in her acting. If she's already this good at the beginning of her career, I'm excited to see what she can do in the future.
Park Shin Hye is great as always. There has never been a role that I've seen her in where I don't believe that she's her character. For someone so famous, that is hard to do, but she does it so effortlessly.
I'm glad I checked this film out!
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STORY
Spoiler free:
So when i was watching the trailer i thought it looked very scary for a thriller which i personally liked but also feared. However, the movie did start quite peacefull and than it suddenly got very scary without anything scary happening. I applaud the director for making the beginning of the plot very scary without doing Much. The camera angles, lighting and background music were very eery and i had chills all over my body. I did follow the plot until the end and Oh my, that got really messy..
SPOILER:
So for people who watched the end, did y'all get it? Because i didn't lol. My interpretation of the ending was that Young-sook from the 90's survived the fall, later on killed the mom and kidnapped Seo-Yeon. And when Seo-Yeon was blacked out after Young-Sook's torture she visited her father's grave and that's what we saw, but it wasn't what happened! So when we were watching the movie most of us thought about the Butterfly theory right? (FYI the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.) Yet somehow this movie didn't use this theory even though because of the small changes , the future changed. This becomes clear when watching the ending because we saw two different endings: One where Seo-yeon's mom survives after the fall and Young-Sook dies, and one where they both survive and where Young-Sook later on kills the mom and kidnaps Seo-Yoon. But these weren't the only timelines. Everytime Young-Sook changes anything, another timeline gets created and Seo-Yoon's consiousness travels to the other timeline. That theory of the movie is honestly so confusing and weird but its the only thing that could make the ending of the movie make sense. But than again, how did future Young-sook call her younger self to warn her she was gonna die? Like that doesn't make sense. She survived without the call otherwise present Young Sook couldn't survive so why did she call? That could've messed up the past and it could've resulted in her dying (which i think it did in that timeline). The only explanation of that part of the movie is that older Young-Sook was from another timeline, but how is she able to call herself from another timeline if Seo-Yoon could only call back to the past?
In conclusion:
The plot of the movie was very good but the ending was poorly executed which resulted in not really understanding what was going on. I was very dissapointed because my favorite Korean movie is Forgotten so i had quite high standards. When i read the plot and watched the trailer i got my hopes up as well, but they disregarded the Butterfly theory at the point where it doesn't make sense anymore. It's not a bad movie, it just has a dissapointing ending.
I only understood the ending because of this review, so read it if you really want to understand the ending:
https://www.thisisbarry.com/film/korean-movie-the-call-ending-explained-2020-netflix/
I also really want to applause the main actresses because both of them were spectacular and tbh i didn't expect such acting from Park Shin Hye! I would love to see her act in more movies/ dramas without romance. Her partner did outshine her tho and i was very surprised to learn that she is a rookie! I have seen her in Burning as well, and her acting is so natural.
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This review may contain spoilers
Watch like no watch ,waste time!
I did not understand what the initial call was, when young suk told Sunhee to come to her house and said her mother would burn her down ... and the secret room at SEOYEON's house was also on fire,,,and the next call youngsuk asked why SEOYEON did not come to his house, meaning the phone was received not counting down, but going forward, because the incident of being burned has happened,before of this i think the call is counting day 18 17 16 nov, but not,,,but why are youngsuk still alive? And what happens next with the secret rooms's fire(present)? Just pass without any reason
May of scene happens without any reasonable reason!
And so what the meaning of the end? I think i can understand the end not like the others comment said
Even though it was warned by her who was from present but it doesn't make sense If she can survive being pushed from the second floor because it was an accident that even she can't predict it doesn't make sense If she can prepare before, no matter what,, Moreover, there was quite a lot of blood flowing and many parts of her body that I think were broken from the position after she fall
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All the elements were good except the story
I admit this has been a thrilling ride and a very good acting for the casts however the pointless plot really disappointed me.Applause to the wonderful casts who made their characters come to life realistically. Park ShinHye showed a range of emotions into this movie. The psychopath also made her character undesirable than ever which means she has done a great job.
The story is pretty unique with this time warp concept where the past and present affect each other as it is expected. It was a quite complicated story but I was able to follow, it's just that this kind of genre is not really something that I am a fan of. Also, I was looking for some sort of impact that will keep this movie on my mind but instead it just made me wonder, "so what is this movie really trying to say?"
I personally don't like it because of the story but if you enjoy similar kinds movies, the cinematography and acting is something that you can look forward into this one.
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