Netflix's New Korean Thriller Really Is a Revelation
The new movie from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho is another must-watch.
From the devilish dystopia of Hellbound to the climate change fable of Jung_E, and, of course, the blood-splattering zombie uprising of the Train to Busan franchise, South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho has become renowned for reveling in the apocalyptic. His latest film, Revelations, is a far more grounded psychological thriller which never once threatens the existence of mankind. But it is very aptly titled.
Co-written with regular partner-in-crime Choi Gyu-seok and executive produced by Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón, the Netflix original doesn’t entirely eschew the fantastical. There are numerous dream sequences and ghostly visions which veer into K-horror. And one particular character appears to be immortal judging how they miraculously survive being thrown off a cliff. However, this time around, Sang-ho is far more interested in exploring issues of childhood trauma, grief, and religious hypocrisy.
The surprisingly self-contained Revelations revolves around two individuals in very different positions of power: Sung Min-chan (Ryu Jun-yeol) is a young church pastor with a determination to spread the word that can be summarized as, “If you build it, they will come.” Lee Yeon-hui (Shin Hyun-been) is an equally committed detective, albeit one deeply troubled by the shocking abduction and subsequent suicide of her younger sister several years previously.
It’s the man responsible for the latter which forces their disparate worlds to collide. Indeed, having visited the local church shortly before one of its younger members goes missing, serial sex offender Kwon Yang-rae (Shin Min-jae) inevitably becomes the prime suspect. While Yeon-hui believes it’s both her personal and professional duty to track him down and seek justice, Min-chan is convinced it’s his divine calling.
The two parties also approach the case in contrasting ways; the former playing by the letter of the law despite the unimaginable horrors Yang-rae subjected her sibling to, and the latter consumed first by sheer panic (in an early bait-and-switch, it’s a member of Min-chan's family initially presumed to have been kidnapped), and then a megalomaniacal streak which gleefully wills him into playing God.
Detective Lee Yeon-hui bloodied and bruised in the line of duty.
Hot on the heels of his lead performance in last year’s The 8 Show — one of the more compelling survival satires to emerge in the wake of Squid Game — Jun-yeol delivers a suitably committed turn as a man of the cloth, and one whose ever-growing dedication to the cause adversely affects his grip on reality.
Are the hills really alive as he envisions following a vigilante car chase which completely flips the script? Or is he simply experiencing pareidolia, the condition psychiatrist helpfully explains relates to seeing human characteristics in distinctly non-human things?
Either way, Min-chan's descent into both madness and malevolence can be truly terrifying. See the fire and brimstone sermons (“You must purge the evil that lies amongst you all”) which startles even the most devoted members of his congregation. Or when he repeatedly castigates his wife in a deeply disturbing, claustrophobic scene which threatens to spill into violence.
Best-known for her roles in small screen romances Cinderella at 2 AM and Tell Me That You Love Me, Hyun-been also impresses whenever Yeon-hui is allowed to be a little more resourceful. Sadly, the film doesn’t quite afford her character as much agency as its antihero, often restricting her screen time to reaction shots, particularly when hallucinating her vengeance-seeking late sister.
The pastor and the man about to make his life hell.
While Revelations grips on a narrative level, fans hoping for another of Sang-ho's visual spectacles will be left severely disappointed. With its rain-soaked exteriors and equally drab interiors, the movie’s aesthetic appeal is closer to the mundanities of the Scandinavian noir than the eye-popping stylings typically associated with his oeuvre, and indeed, the comic book world the story derives from.
The filmmaker’s signature blood and gore is also thin on the ground. Only the climactic showdown, in which Min-chan proves he’s very much a “do as I say, not as I do” pillar of society, serves up any notable amount, Sang-ho instead preferring to pack a punch with his thematic concerns. Whether that’s the leniency of the judicial system, the emotional triggers from child abuse, or the concept of survivors’ guilt, he largely succeeds.
Of course, Sang-ho has always imbued even his most hyperviolent efforts with social commentary and general reflections on humanity. But the fact they take center stage here proves the director can still compel without setting the whole world on fire, too.
