The year 2012 was marked by the Hollywood debut of two South Korean directors at once - Kim Ji-un with Return of the Hero and Pak Chan-Uk with Vicious Games. Pak's picture was released in the United States in a limited release, despite the fact that the main roles of the project were played by famous actors - M. Vasikovska, N. Kidman and M. Goode. Be that as it may, lovers of extraordinary aesthetic dramas appreciated the gloomy, viscous thriller. The authors of the reviews of “Vicious Games” include the strong script that came from the pen of the “Prison Break” star Wentworth Miller and the director Pak Chan-Uk, who built a mysterious atmosphere in the east.
Short storyline
The plot of "Vicious Games" begins with the tragedy of the main character of India (Mia Vasikovska), whose father, Richard Stoker (actor Dermot Mulroney), dies on the day of eighteen. During the funeral procession, Charlie Stocker (Matthew Goode) approaches the girl and her mother (Nicole Kidman) and appears to be the brother of the deceased, although India has never heard of his existence. Charlie claims that he traveled the world for eighteen years, but now decided to return to his family. A man quickly disposes of a widow to himself, which is why the already difficult relationship between mother and daughter is complicated to the limit. The newfound uncle, having settled in the house, is persistently trying to make friends with India. Meanwhile, people in the vicinity begin to disappear. The beginning of the tragedy coincides with the arrival of the stranger.
Express growing up
Pak Chan-Uk, as a true master of stories about the nature of violence, boldly mixes cultural and cinematic ingredients in his project, Hitchcock suspense with South Korean national horror, family drama with dark Gothic. As the audience noted in the reviews of "Vicious games", the plot of the film has a story of growing up, leading to an extraordinary outcome. India finds itself in violence and suddenly begins to enjoy cruelty. She has little communication with peers, loves to hunt birds. At the beginning of the picture, the authors deliberately emphasize its immaturity, it even looks younger than it actually is. But during the tape, the heroine expresses growing up.
Exciting moments
Among the most memorable episodes of the picture, viewers note a piano scene in which the director is thrillingly and at the same time quite innocently demonstrating the first awakening of his heroine's sexuality. And the climactic scene on the road is just perfect. A girl smiling at the sheriff, bloodied scissors, drops of blood on flowers and a soundtrack, followed by inverted captions. Many authors in reviews of "Vicious Games" recall the novel "Aspen Factory" by the Scottish writer Ian Banks. There, the infantile protagonist arranged no less genocide for innocent animals in anticipation of the return of his brother from a mental hospital.
A terrible tale about family ties
The dramas in the film are many times greater than in the Games of Vicious Blood, but watching the thriller is still very interesting. Suspence does not stun, but envelops slowly and inevitably. The narrative is full of excitement, bad forebodings, anxiety and ominous symbols.
Domestic filmmakers in their reviews of Vicious Games positioned the project as an arthouse horror gravitating to Lars von Trier's Antichrist (2009) than to a traditional horror film. It frightens completely ordinary things, implicit, and therefore terrible details. Pak Chan-Uk carefully builds the atmosphere, in the movie there is no extra gesture, no extra sound. Memorable scenes would be enough for several intellectual horror films and thrillers. Clint Mansell's musical accompaniment plays an important role, his contribution no less than obscene is the perfect picture of the friend and long-time associate of director Pak, cameraman Chung Chun-hoon. In the movie, everything is excessive and overnight restrained. Actors playing the main roles seem to compete with each other in how, using a minimum of facial nuances and gestures, to create an aura of mystery inherent in a terrible fairy tale around their characters.
Acting Ensemble
The narrative of the film “Vicious Games” revolves around the three main characters, whose images were embodied on the screen by wonderful performers.
India was played by the promising previously Australian, and now Hollywood film actress Mia Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland", "Jane Eyre"). As reviewers emphasize, her talent is very ambiguous, but her appearance is very expressive. In the project, Pak Chan-Uk Mia coped with the role brilliantly. She got a wholly hit in the image. The camera simply adores the actress, she looks dazzling: skinny, preserving teenage agility and possessing feminine grace. India turned out to be extremely real, and small and believable features made the character frighteningly real.
The image of the newly-made mysterious uncle is in no way inferior in complexity to the main character. Matthew Goode (Guardians, Match Point, Imitation Game) amazingly embodied Charlie on the screen. Through the efforts of the performers, the character received a relaxed plastic of a dangerous predator, a spark of madness smoldering in his eyes, a bewitching voice and theatrical gestures. Both critics and viewers in their reviews echo in unison that Goode is an excellent actor, he demonstrated a high-quality game.
The third link in the stellar cast is Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge, Others), who played the widowed Evelyn Stoker. The actress is traditionally magnificent, she played expertly, but her character fades somewhat in comparison with the other two. Nevertheless, the heroine Kidman has several spectacular scenes.
Positive opinions of foreign critics
From the regulars of the Sundance Film Festival, the film Vicious Games received mostly positive reviews. They called the picture a professionally mounted family detective with a touch of a Gothic tale and rated it 4 points out of 5 possible. The main advantage of the brainchild of Pak Chan-Uk is considered the choking atmosphere and exemplary visual effects.
Critics praised the tape for sophistication, successful genre combination and acting. We also paid attention to the presence of black humor and erotic tension in the plot.
Some critics have called Pak Chan-Uk Hitchcock a new generation. Despite rave reviews, the thriller's IMDb rating is 6.80.
Negative reviews
Critics, summarizing their impressions after watching, called the images of key characters troubled, while also indicating that all the scenario flaws are compensated by a successful cast. The acting did not impress them so much that they did not note all the misses of the thriller. Reviewers were categorical in their assessment, calling Pak's brainchild a ridiculous, completely empty and extremely unsuccessful job.
Other critics were much more condescending, nevertheless noticed that "Vicious games", like "Thirst", are not a high achievement of the director, rather, they should be taken as exercises in style. It is believed that the plot of the film suffers from predictability.
Eccentric canvas
However, one should not forget that the extraordinary plot canvas of “Vicious Games” is woven from dark matter, not at all entertaining in nature. This is not for you "Games of vicious blood" by Alice Pozhidaeva. Naturally, the picture will not appeal to that category of viewers who want to see in the cinema a kind of abstract good, moralizing or entertainment. The Pak Thr Chan-Uk thriller is like a gloomy staircase leading deep down to the abyss of madness.