The Neighbors

Assalamualaikum, good day everyone ! Here is another movie review and its Korean ! It's an old movie though, but rest assure it is one of the best I had ever watch !

Title : The Neighbors

Runtime : 110 minutes

Genre : Thriller, Suspense

Country/Language : South Korea/Korean

Director : Kim Whee

Released year : 2012

Cast : Kim Sung Kyun, Kim Sae Ron, Kim Yun Jin, Ma Dong Seok, Cheon Ho Jin, Do Ji Han, Jang Young Nam, Lim Ha Ryung

Plot :

During a rainy day, a middle school student, Yeo Seon was kidnapped on her way to home. After ten days, her body was found in a red suitcase. Her step mother had been feeling guilty ever since because she was supposed to pick her up from school. She then stumble into Seo Yoon who lives in the same apartment complex and hers. Soo Yeon had an uncanny resemblance with the dead student, Yeo Seon. Several people living near the apartment complex had been suspecting one of their neighbor, Seung Hyuk is the murderer but kept it to themselves.

This movie is actually from a webcomic with the same title written by Kang Pool.

SPOILER ALERT

One thing for sure,  the suspense is killing me! With that being said, I would start my review, so the movie started with a phrase not exactly but similar to 'My dead daughter had came home for a week' and that managed to get me freaked out, just a tiny bit. As said in the plot written above, the murderer of Yeo Seon is actually her own neighbor who gave her a lift when her mom couldn't pick her up. However, the motive of the murder was unclear and unknown.

Upon meeting Soo Yeon ( played by Kim Sae Rom,) the step-mother (played by Kim Yu Jin) begun to forgive herself. At the same time, she noticed a weird behavior of her neighbor, Seung Hyuk (played by Kim Sung Kyun)  from the below level. She noticed that he always watched Soo Yeon when she went to school. Soo Yeon mother (played by Jang Young Nam) however, is oblivious to the danger that her daughter is in. She is a part of the complex women society (or something, i dont remember) and often busy with the society. She only thought that Seung Hyuk is weird and did not suspect him being the murder. Instead, the women society thought that the loan gangster (played by Ma Dong Seok) that lives at their apartment complex is the murderer.

Out of all neighbors, there was three person that was aware of Seung Hyuk being the murderer. The first one is the pizza delivery guy (played by Do Ji Han). He noticed that every time Seung Hyuk ordered the pizza, a murder would occurs. However, he had no evidence. The next one is the bag shop owner (played by Lim Ha Ryung). This is quite sick as he kept quite even though he had the benefit of doubt, fearing that nobody would came to his shop if the word get out. And the last person was the security guard guy (played by Cheon Ho Jin), he was aware that Seung Hyuk is the murder. He had the evidence but then he chose to run away.

Mom is mom just by being there - Yoo Soo Yeon

All of these characters played a key role on saving Soo Yeon from being murdered by Seung Hyuk. How? Well, that is something that I would rather not to spoil. The plot was simple but intense and very thrilling at the same time. It was a simple murder case. Even though the motive of murder was not clear, I personally think that it was because of the anger management and the environmental pressure that had him act up. Whatever the reason was, it was not okay to take someone life away from them.

I was very happy to see another screen play of  Do Ji Han. I personally think that his acting, emotions and speech deliver was great. How could he be so underrated was beyond me. I could not understand that.

Ending of this movie was satisfying and a little unexpected. There was a twist at the very end of the movie and I didn't see that coming. I am not sure who was the one that took the blame because the police was so eager to get the loan shark on blame. And along the phrase 'The girl I killed went home everyday' ended the movie. Chills down the spine right there ! It was a bit unanswered on that. For the overall, I love this movie and would definitely recommend this to everyone !

-thes