How can filmmakers from other countries make basically the same films we're making here but make them better?
Tell Me Something (2001)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:19
Fresh:9
Rotten:10
Average Rating:5.7/10
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
US Box Office: $0
Synopsis: Black garbage bags filled with dismembered body parts begin to pop up around the city: in an elevator, on a highway, at the edge of a basketball court. The victims are nearly impossible to... Black garbage bags filled with dismembered body parts begin to pop up around the city: in an elevator, on a highway, at the edge of a basketball court. The victims are nearly impossible to identify. The killer¹s motive is a complete mystery. Leading the investigation is Detective Cho (Han Suk-gyu), a burnt-out cop trying to redeem his tainted reputation with this case. Setting up a special crime investigation unit dedicated to these gruesome murders, Cho and his partner, the veteran Detective Oh (Chang Hang-sun) map out the order of the murders, interchanging the body parts like pieces in a grotesque puzzle. A break opens up in the case when Cho is led to a beautiful and enigmatic young artist. Su-yeon Chae (Shim Eun-ha), with whom all the victims have had relations. But aside from this lead, Cho is far from solving the case. Still without a motive, Cho is grasping for clues. While being drawn closer to the mysterious Su-yeon, he begins unraveling her tortured past, leading to new questions and suspects. Cho decides to investigate her late college classmate and current colleague Ki-yeon. While Cho questions Ki-yeon, the fragile Su-yeon is attacked, but manages to escape. After being released from police custody, Ki-yeon disappears, and early the next morning Detective Cho is notified of the fourth murder. Under the rainy urban landscape of Korea¹s capital, another garbage bag is discovered on a highway. This time, the corpse is a headless Ki-yeon... -- © 2001 Kino International [More]
Starring: Han Suk-Kyu, Shim Eun-ha, Jang Hang-seon
Starring: Han Suk-Kyu, Shim Eun-ha, Jang Hang-seon
Director: Chang Yoon-hyun
Director: Chang Yoon-hyun
Studio: Kino International
Reviews for Tell Me Something
So bedeviled by plot holes and violations of common sense that by the time you get to the climax, you've ceased to buy the whole story line.
While the ending might not come as a huge surprise, the journey makes for a grisly, dark bit of entertainment.
A thriller-chiller that is as shamelessly predictable as it is memorably grim.
A complicated and stylish Korean thriller that will make viewers' skin crawl.
A thoroughly predictable and irritatingly mechanical movie that nonetheless works exceptionally well within the parameters of its genre.
What it definitely lacks is any real human element which would make us care about the victims, Cho or Su-yeon.
Mainly demonstrates that Asian filmmakers are just as adept as Americans at producing genre exercises.
Though it comes from halfway across the world, the movie, directed by Chang Youn-hyun, shows a desultory mastery of Hollywood clichés.
Has strong characters and a gruesomely intriguing plot but doesn't wrap up its central mystery convincingly.
For all its style and assurance, Tell Me Something is not ultimately original enough to sustain its many horrific images, however brief they may be.
Stylish, sullen, and a little predictable, Tell Me Something is the match of any American film in its quasi-genre.
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