[HanCinema's Film Review] "Hansel and Gretel"

Eun-soo (played by Chun Jung-myung) is a young man who begins "Hansel and Gretel" attempting to talk his girlfriend out of an abortion- she doesn't think he's responsible. Then, a traffic accident forces Eun-soo to take refuge at an obscure cottage in the middle of the woods. We can tell by the "first day" subtitle that someone, or something, is conspiring to prevent Eun-soo from leaving behind the three children who live in that cottage.

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"Hansel and Gretel" is principally a horror mystery about where exactly Eun-soo is. The movie has its fair share of scary makeup and special effects with surprisingly little reliance on jump scares. But probably the single most unsettling moment in the film is a shot of the attic stretching out into infinity. The world of "Hansel and Gretel" defies all known laws of the universe, and even when a flashback finally explains the source of these distortions, it's not really much of an explanation.

Metaphorically, "Hansel and Gretel" is a story about the fears involved in becoming a parent. Man-bok (played by Eun Won-jae), Yeong-hee (played by Shin Eun-kyeong), and Jeong-soon (played by Jin Ji-hee) are emotionally needy. Man-bok and Yeong-hee, as the older two children, are smart enough to avoid seeming too desperate, or too pathetic. But all three of them are clearly starved for attention and love, and seem to live in a permanent state of arrested development because of that.

Is there anything Eun-soo can do about that? Well, no, probably not. Yet as the days goes on, Eun-soo slowly starts being less scared for himself and more scared for the children, despite how explicitly frightening they are. The original "Hansel and Gretel" fairy tale is, fundamentally, a story about how strangers with candy are scary. The premise of this film simply inverts that perspective, so that a potentially threatening adult is left asking himself, how can I prove that I really don't want to hurt these children?

This ties into the parenthood anxiety that bookends the story. Eun-soo clearly believes that he can be a good husband and father. But communication isn't his strong suit. It's hard to tell at times whether Chun Jung-myung is supposed to read as a bland cipher or his acting is just flat. Either way the point is well made. Eun-soo is able to deal with the children because he can maintain his composure even as other adults meet with unfortunate fates as they succumb to fear and rage.

None of this is fair, and that's pretty much the whole point. The children can't make sense of what's happened to them, and are trapped in a gruesome fairy tale of their own design as they desperately try to claw their way to a happy ending, with adults who love them the way adults should love children. Not all adults do love children. Maybe because they're actually evil, or maybe because they just don't have the right temperment for it. Eun-soo does though- which paradoxically is how he's able to break their horrific fantasy.

Written by William Schwartz

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"Hansel and Gretel" is directed by Yim Pil-sung, and features Chun Jung-myung, Eun Won-jae, Shim Eun-kyung, Jin Ji-hee, Park Hee-soon, Park Lydia. Release date in Korea: 2007/12/27.