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Starring: Kap-su Kim,  Jung-ah Yum,  Su-jeong Lim,  Geun-yeong Mun,  Seung-bi Lee, 
Directed By: Ji-woon Kim, 
Rated: Unrated
Release Date: 2003
Studio: Tartan Video
Format: AC-3,  Closed-captioned,  Color,  Dolby,  DTS Surround Sound,  DVD-Video,  Special Edition,  Subtitled,  Widescreen,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about A Tale of Two Sisters (Deluxe Edition)

Description
Something strange is happening when Su-mi and her younger sister, Su-yeon, come home to their fathers large but dark and somewhat foreboding house after a stay in the hospital. Their dad is taciturn and burdened, and their stepmother, Eun-joo, greets them with forced enthusiasm and more than a little sense of irritation. But thats nothing compared to what happens when bedtime rolls around. Stylish and shocking, this visually arresting tale of family secrets and uncertain realities is based on a traditional Korean folktale. Guaranteed to have you gasping for breath with each successive scare. 2 disc set features over 2 hours of bonus footage.

Amazon.com
Two young sisters recovering from an unnamed trauma must face a mysterious past in this excellent South Korean shocker. A worldwide hit upon its release and based on an old Korean fairy tale; two sisters (wonderfully played by Su-jeong Lim and Geun-yeong Mun) come to live with their cold and distant father and turn-on-a-dime stepmother in a house where nothing is as it seems. A wonderfully haunting score, starkly beautiful imagery, and a labyrinthine plot that twists and turns at every dark corner all set the stage for a riveting and often terrifying guessing game of a movie. Equal parts drama, mystery, and ghost story, A Tale of Two Sisters is a richly complex and challenging cinematic treat that may very well demand repeat viewings. --Matt Wold

Customer Reviews for A Tale of Two Sisters (Deluxe Edition)

Mentally Stimulating
Usually I am pretty good at figure out most movies before they end.Quite a few times in the first 30 minutes.
Especially American movies with notable exceptions and even foreign films.
But this one, had me seriously wondering if I had missed something even though i paid very close attention.
It was gripping and kept throwing curveballs.
And then a certain part came and I said AHA! was another twist.
I didnt get it to the very end.
An exceptional film.
This movie is why my collection consists of films which are either forum or american sleepers. Because the big budget stuff, while fine to rent or catch in a theatre, isnt really intriguing enough for me to watch multiple times.
Great stuff.A Tale of Two Sisters (Deluxe Edition)

A Dark Psychological Drama
A Tale Of Two Sisters is rivetting from the onset. It quickly becomes evident to the viewer that there is far more going on than appearances would lead you to believe. Events spiral into paranoia and madness but you can't be sure just who is losing grip. Reality and nightmare become indistinguishible before the truth is finally brought to life. The acting is good, the story haunting, the directing masterfully done to get under your skin and into your mind.

A Tale of Two Sisters (Deluxe Edition)

A Masterpiece In A Sea of Faux "Masterpieces"
This review is long overdue, since I consider A Tale of Two Sisters to be the single greatest film ever made. I'll put this gem up against any movie in terms of screenplay, cinematography, acting, post-production, editing, directing, or any other aspect of film-making. It's practically perfect in all of them - a true masterpiece in a sea of faux "masterpieces."

The structure of this film is easily the most tightly constructed in the history of cinema. I can think of no other film where something vitally important occurs every other minute. Quite literally, Ji-woon Kim seems to have made a movie that practically taunts the viewer to dissect it on the most detailed of levels. A seemingly insignificant object may be shown - a rack of dresses, two diaries, a drop of blood emanating from a floor crack, a bottle of pills, etc. - but upon meticulous inspection turns out to be so much more - a clue that helps to make sense of that particular scene (or perhaps the movie in total), which almost always contributes a stirring reflection upon the psychological concepts that lurk in the background until the viewer's intelligence prompts them to spring to the forefront. Such an event might occur a handful of times during any other movie, but in A Tale of Two Sisters such events occur in such a rapid-fire, relentless fashion that the viewer must watch the film in a perpetual state of alertness, lest they miss something important. In other words, the content level of this film is enough to easily fill a dozen other films. How can anyone in their right mind ask for anything more from a movie than this? It's quite simply the highest, most superlative form of cinema imaginable.

The most commonly cited criticism of A Tale of Two Sisters is nicely summarized by Zaphod B Goode on IMDb, who falsely claims that the story is an incoherent, unresolved mess that uses confusion to instill a false sense of intelligence because it does not provide a final set of facts underlying the intriguing questions. He posits that Ji-woon Kim tossed up a dozen possible explanations and left it at that. In reality, however, nothing could be further from the truth. A Tale of Two Sisters provides a series of unassailably objective facts that help the viewer to identify the EXACT occurrences of each and every scene of the film. If our good friend Zaphod had been paying attention, he would have noticed - for example - the series of obvious flashbacks which provide enough factual information to make sense of the film. These flashbacks convincingly contradict Zaphod's assertion of complete subjectivity. The objective elements of A Tale of Two Sisters are so obvious to anyone willing to see them that the mere assertion of a lack of objectivity can only call into question the patience of a viewer who apparently does not want to put forth even the slightest effort whatsoever to see them. Can Ji-woon Kim really be faulted for the impatience of viewers who lack the desire to understand his film? I think not.

Please note that I will not insult the intelligence of critics such as Zaphod that cannot "get" A Tale of Two Sisters, because it really has nothing to do with a lack of intelligence as much as a lack of persistence. The movie spells itself out so effectively that the only possible explanation for confusion is a lack of effort on the part of the viewer. Yes, this film does require a rather significant amount of puzzle-solving, but the pieces fit together to create a beautiful picture. You need only put them together. Remember, the screenplay was written by someone with the picture already in mind - he simply separated the pieces and placed them skillfully throughout for the purpose of providing a magnificent cerebral exercise that - when completed - bestows an ultimate form of satisfaction and state of awe.

Don't misunderstand me. There are films that seem to start with an incomplete picture and try to create a puzzle that is insoluble by design. Spider Forest (2004), Perfect Blue (1998) and Donnie Darko (2001) are perfect examples of this. A Tale of Two Sisters is not. It's ironic that Zaphod claims Darko to be more masterfully constructed than A Tale of Two Sisters, especially considering that Darko not only provides almost NO objective facts but also a twist ending that is the quintessential deus ex machina cliché that could be dropped at the end of any movie ever made in order to provide the ultimate in faux intelligence. I'm ashamed of myself for mentioning the two films in the same sentence, but the contrast is an important one. Although it does perplex me that Zaphod would cite a movie that crumbles when exposed to even the slightest intellectual effort as a way of criticizing a film that only becomes discernible thru a significant application of intellectual effort. He apparently likes his "intelligent" films in the most superficial form possible. This is evident when he makes 17 consecutive questions in his review that are answered quite convincingly by the film itself. Just read the threads by Opiemar within the IMDb A Tale of Two Sisters Discussion Forum. Anyone who carefully reads those threads and still asserts a lack of an objective solution to this film may as well stop watching intelligent films altogether because the answers are so damned OBVIOUS.

Just watch it. It's the greatest film ever made.A Tale of Two Sisters (Deluxe Edition)

Ambitious, intelligent but not altogether successful
Aiming more for the kind of study of the after-effects of loss that Don't Look Now delivered rather than the shocks of the likes of The Ring or The Grudge cycles, A Tale of Two Sisters really did little for meon a first viewing. Psychologically accurate it may be, but it's not terribly involving for its first hour and the would-be shocks in the second are over familiar to anyone who has seen even a couple Asian horror films. Nor does director Ji-woon Kim seem particularly interested in making it easy for the audience to work out what's happening even at the end, while once it is explained I couldn't help feeling it could have been handled much better. 10/10 for ambition, 5/10 for achievement.

The extras on the two-disc release are very good BUT infuriuatingly the director's commentary over the deleted scenes cannot be turned off, which is especially annoying during long dialogue scenes.
A Tale of Two Sisters (Deluxe Edition)

Korean Horror
Atmospheric and interesting horror movie about 2 sisters who go to their fathers house after the death of their birth mother. One of them has just been released from the hospital. The sisters arrive at the house and all seems fine..

Soon after strange things start happening in the house. The stepmother is becoming a problem and the father is rarely around and oblivious to all the weird occurences that are taking place. Strange apparitions start appearing and one sister starts being plagued by nightmares. The family starts seeing kids under the kitchen sink, guests freaking out at dinner and creatures behind curtains.

This movie shares some similar themes to other Japanese/Korean horror movies but I found it to be a lot better than the majority that's out there. This movie is not what it seems. It a type of movie that makes you think and it has a decent amount of suspense.

Stylish, Nice scenery and musical score, also loved the way it was directed. Recommended.
A Tale of Two Sisters (Deluxe Edition)