The Piper review [LKFF 2015]: “A beautifully dark movie.”

The Piper review: It’s depressing to be sure, but very rewarding for lovers of dark cinema.

The Piper review

You know what story is really damn unsettling and creepy? The Pied Piper Of Hamelin. A man who is willing to help out a community is double crossed and seeks vengeance in the most disturbing of ways, by targeting the innocent children. No matter what version of the story you are familiar with, it is bound to leave a bit of a mental scar on you. So it’s about time we had a blockbuster worthy adaptation, and since South Korea do very well at grim vengeance tales, it seems only natural that we get The Piper.

The debut feature for Kim Gwang Tae is a very faithful variation on the original story, while still adding enough material to justify a feature length running time. Imagine the best parts of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, crossed with one of Korea’s most brutal and uncompromising revenge flicks, Bedevilled. Ryoo Seung Ryong plays Woo Ryong, a humble and talented piper nursing a leg injury from the Korean war. He’s travelling with his sick son Young Nam (Goo Seung Hyun), in an attempt to reach a doctor in Seoul who can cure his lung disease. On the way they stumble across an isolated village where the locals are suspicious, nervous, and unaware that a ceasefire to the war has been announced.

The Piper review

It’s clear to us that this village is not one to stay around in. Locals look from behind pillars ala The Wicker Man, while there’s a disproportionate amount of people missing ear lobes. There may also be a slight rat problem. Perhaps. Woo Ryong is oblivious to all this though, and part of the tragedy is just how caring and trusting he really is. A piece of paper he believes is the address of the doctor he needs to visit is in fact a note saying “Kiss my ass monkey.” This adds that element of tragedy that Woo Ryong is never meant to cure his son, and things only get worse from there.

Woo Ryong pledges he will get rid of the rats in the village, which have acquired a taste for meat, and does so before the villages untrustworthy chief (Lee Sung Min), even mentions money. Although Woo Ryong’s notes on his pipe do grab the attention of animals, he sets up an elaborate trap involving powders that work as poisons and lures. The rats are soon gone, but the real nightmare begins when, in order to get out of paying Woo Ryong, the chief declares him as a commie. I can hardly spoil the rest of the story if you know the folktale it is based on, but I’ll leave it there for now.

The Piper review

The Piper is a beautifully dark movie. It may start off with bright green landscapes and sunlight refracting through the leaves, but it soon becomes a mostly nighttime set horror where golden flames flicker off the characters’ faces. The visual style is gothic, but never over stylised in the wyays of Guillermo Del Toro or Tim Burton. You feel the warmth of the flames and smell of the smoke. However, even in sunlight there is no respite from the sense of doom. Like Bedevilled before it, the film puts its protagonist through unspeakable hell, making the coming vengeance very satisfying before becoming so dark we question whether we have truly found justice or just seen a character pushed to an extreme breaking point.

Stylish, atmospheric, beautiful production design, and excellent performances all combine to make this a very solid, if not particularly original effort. Ryoo deserves so much credit for giving us a charming and sympathetic character, while also being able to plunge into such dark recesses, while the young Goo has great chemistry with Ryoo, while also proving to be a strong character in his own right. It’s depressing to be sure, but very rewarding for lovers of dark cinema.

The Piper review by Luke Ryan Baldock, November, 2015.

The Piper screened at the London Korean Film Festival 2015.