听 Tell Me Something is a Korean thriller as remarkable for its ability to baffle as for its flamboyant gore. A serial killer is cutting up victims with surgical precision and leaving their mixed-up body parts in black bin-liners on the streets of Seoul. Disgraced Detective Cho (Han Suk-kyu) is put on the case - and the bodies turn out to be linked to the beautiful but evasive museum curator Su-yeon (Shim Eun-ha), whose past Cho must unpick before the killer strikes again.
Borrowing heavily (and heavy-handedly) from American whodunnits of the 90s like Basic Instinct and Se7en, Cho flat-foots around rain and blood-soaked locations with nary a lightbulb to be found. The polished production, the star power of the leads and the vogueish Americana made this a big hit in South Korea in 1999. But apart from some engaging performances and the stylishly revolting gore sequences - the elevator scene in particular is wonderfully grisly - there is little to recommend to non-genre fans.
"SLOW, CONFUSING AND DELIRIOUSLY MACABRE"
Several times, the film seems to stop in its tracks (half an hour or so less running time would really help). Some bizarre dialogue and narrative jolts suggest that the translated subtitles aren't as helpful as they could be, either, which makes would-be detectives in the audience struggle more than they already would. Slow, confusing, and punctuated with the deliriously macabre, Tell Me Something's fitful torrent of red herrings, body parts, clues and switcheroos leave its ending just as dismembered as the victims'.
In Korean with English subtitles.
