Sister

Story: Hae-ran (Jung Ji-so) needs money to pay for her sister's surgery. Fortunately, through her work, she meets Tae-su (Lee Soo-hyuk), who has tracked down her father. Hae-ran is an undocumented immigrant whose mother has passed away, which is why she is searching for her father. Tae-su discovers that her father is the CEO of a large corporation. However, the man wants nothing to do with his illegitimate daughter, so Hae-ran and Tae-su, who previously worked for the CEO, decide to extort money from him. The pair kidnap So-jin (Cha Joo-young), the CEO's daughter, and tie her up in a secluded, derelict building. Hae-ran and Tae-su plan to record a video in which So-jin begs her father to pay the ransom, but the young woman refuses. As a result, the kidnappers have to prove they mean business. Hae-ran is far from comfortable with their methods, especially since Tae-su becomes violent toward more than just their hostage. Still, as long as she sees a chance to fund her sister's life-saving operation, she turns a blind eye to everything. That is, until she starts talking with So-jin and begins to doubt whether things really are the way Tae-su wants her to believe ...

Review: I'm a fan of thrillers and horror films that take place in a single, confined setting, thereby crafting their own self-contained microcosm. The reason is likely that even a halfway competent director can use such a "stage setting" to build a dense atmosphere — perhaps even replicating the intensity of a solid stage play. "Sister" therefore has all the right prerequisites to be gripping, and at times suspense truly does emerge — just not as consistently as a successful thriller requires. The primary culprits behind these issues are well-worn genre tropes. Characters act profoundly foolish, the women are portrayed as appallingly helpless, and to be frank, the premise itself runs out of steam before long. Even the obligatory twists cannot quite bring you back on board. All in all, a certain degree of suspense remains, meaning the movie can't be completely written off as a failure.

South Korea's film industry has increasingly come to rely on international stories for inspiration, which is why there are quite a few Korean remakes nowadays. In the thriller genre, this approach can pay off nicely, as seen with "The Vanished", or it ends up like "Sister", falling into the same camp as "Door Lock", with which it shares several clear parallels: Genre cliches are checked off in alarmingly rapid and unsubtle fashion, and the female lead in particular can be grating at times because she acts like the textbook victim. "Sister" is a remake of the British thriller "The Disappearance of Alice Creed", which was generally well-received by critics. One is inevitably left wondering whether the original managed to sidestep some of the stereotypes that stand out so glaringly in this version. At the very least, we are initially presented with an intriguing tweak: strictly speaking, our hostage is not entirely alone and might actually have an ally.

Right from the start, Hae-ran does not come across as your typical kidnapper or extortionist. That much is made abundantly clear by the messages she exchanges with her sister, who urgently requires an expensive procedure. Tae-su, however, is a different story altogether. While he may have pulled off the kidnapping for his son, no further context is provided, and it is painfully obvious that he enjoys the whole ordeal far too much to ever pass as a sympathetic figure. The battle lines are drawn early on, meaning subsequent developments rarely deliver real surprises, even when certain revelations are presented as major plot twists. Only a few unfolding details manage to pique some genuine curiosity. So-jin, the hostage, proves far more interesting. Naturally, audiences are meant to sympathize with her, but because the story unfolds through Hae-ran's eyes, So-jin occasionally comes across as quite unlikable, even though her bouts of hysteria and terror are completely understandable.

Performance-wise, Cha Joo-young easily delivers the film's standout turn as So-jin. She effectively captures the physical toll of her extreme situation: drenched in sweat, her face covered in tears and mucus, lashing out desperately with hands and feet whenever an opening appears. Lee Soo-hyuk ("Pipeline") is saddled with the role of the one-dimensional villain. He slaps, kicks, and hurls women across the room, which undeniably succeeds in stoking our hostility, but he rarely manages to be anything beyond an obnoxious, violent control freak. Jung Ji-so, as the actual protagonist, is perhaps the one who ought to disappoint the most; yet, truth be told, I simply found myself indifferent to her character. Given her crisis of conscience, she really should have been the emotional engine driving the narrative. This brings us back to the cliches mentioned earlier. Egregiously foolish behavior is not confined to the women; Tae-su makes plenty of head-scratching decisions of his own. Still, the female characters in "Sister" caused me more than a few moments of exasperation due to how helpless they are portrayed physically.

Now, the reality is that in the vast majority of cases, women are physically at a disadvantage against men; the real question is how narrative fiction handles that dynamic. Why not use one's head and devise a strategy that avoids a direct physical confrontation altogether? That would seem the logical route, but not for our two leads. I lost count of how many times my jaw dropped watching Hae-ran run: her body language screamed full-on sprint, yet she was barely covering any ground at all! Child's play for the male antagonist, who comes across like the Hulk in physical scuffles despite Lee Soo-hyuk having a notably slender frame. Granted, this is par for the course in the genre, and it might even lend the finale an extra dose of catharsis, but I could only roll my eyes at it. In the end, "Sister" is one of those thrillers that can provide a decent thrill for genre devotees, but it remains just another grain of sand on the beach. Its promising premise ultimately left me wishing I had simply watched the seemingly superior original instead.

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