The Witch is a South Korean film that took top of the box office during it's first week's release. The film took first during a time where Korean cinema was being ruled by sequel film Accidental Detective 2 and still held on to a top ten spot as American films were released into the box office weeks prior. Over three million people have seen the film as of August of last year. Directed and written by Park Hoon Jung, Kim Da Mi,(Itewon Class) Choi Wook Sik,(Parasite) and Jo Mi Soo star in the action family drama.
A girl who has no memory of where she was born lives on a farm with her adopted family. She doesn't know that superhuman are looking for her as they all come from the same experimental lab. They find her after she appears on a singing show due to her friend…….
Half the Witch is a family drama where the main character goes about her daily life with her friend and family. The film spends most of its time here. I'm guessing that's because the director knew there was enough time since a second part is in the works. You have to watch half the film to get to the action. What unfolds isn't especially boring or interesting- just a simple drama involving family and a few weird instances connected to the events at the beginning of the film. Viewers are overall given a lot of build up to the juicy stuff. If fluff taking up half the film experience isn't your thing, I'll say that the action during the latter half of the film is worth the wait. What I took from The Witch was an opportunity for South Korea to flex it's special effects creative ability which was accomplished. The twist wasn't too shocking either but I cared enough to keep watching. Part 2 might be a film that I would watch in the future.
The cinematography was very scenery based because of the set on location. There was a lot of transitions from the rural area to city life. Scenes shot in the woods feel mysterious yet lonely, something that I believe represents the important characters's personalities in the film.
I'm not going to lie. Choi Wook Sik was the main reason I decided to check out this film. He's an actor that takes on strange roles and I love him for it. In this role he places an American superhuman man who speaks English and Korean. Choi has a background of living in Canada so he can speak English fluently which helped him in the role. Being bilingual gives his performance a charismatic flare that I haven't seen from him in his other roles. Kim Da Mi is still pretty new but she's an expert at showing a character who has multiple layers to her personality. I enjoyed watching her the most in the latter part of the film.
The Witch isn't a film that has an amazing script and it becomes painfully apparent. There are wonderful qualities about The Witch that make it a good film though. Let's see what the sequel has to give this year.
BE WARNED. THE CLIP BELOW IS FROM THE FILM BUT IT MIGHT BE A SPOILER FOR SOME.
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