Hansel & Gretel

Introduction

The Brothers Grimm wrote some fantastically dark fairytales, which are normally quite violent and scary with Hansel and Gretel as a potentially terrifying tale for children who get lost. This Korean film version inverts the ages from the story by featuring a man travelling to his terminally ill mother and talking to his pregnant wife on the phone when he swerves to avoid a rock in the road and crashes in the forest.

Coming to in the dark, he is greeted by a young girl in a hooded red cape carrying a lantern who offers to show him back to her house where her family can treat his injuries and give him food and shelter. The house is strangely picturesque, out of place in the dark surroundings, and with furniture and décor straight out of a Barry Sonnenfeld film. Presented with a plate of brightly iced cakes and biscuits and uncomfortably pleasant parents, the film immediately has ominous undertones which are added to when he asks the father about the phone who replies, with his leg twitching, that it has been disconnected but someone should be out the next day to reconnect them.

With no cellular coverage, Eun-soo decides to try and make his own way back to the road but gets lost in the forest and ends up back at the house where the parents have disappeared - apparently to take the mother to the doctor - leaving a note for him to look after the children. With captions popping up saying 'Day One' and the sullen male teenager with some kind of control over his sisters, Eun-soo is in for an ordeal that will only end when he discovers the truth about the three siblings and where the adults in their lives have gone.

Video

This is a beautifully shot film with a deceptive amount of CGI and brilliant production design and set decoration. The transfer is crisp, doing the cinematography and art design full justice - the blacks are reassuringly dark and the colours very bright.

Audio

I started off with the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack but found it used the surround far more than is necessary, with the dialogue coming from the side speakers and, to a lesser extent, the rears. Switching to the stereo was clearly the way to go as the dialogue comes from the right place and, with Pro Logic II, you don't miss out on the great sound design and surround options.

The subtitles are clear and easy to follow, though on a few occasions they appear before the words have been spoken.

Extra Features

The main supplementary material is a 55 minute making of containing interviews with the cast and crew, outtakes and other b-roll material, though the subtitles give out about halfway through meaning that this is just about useless to anyone who doesn't speak fluent Korean! There are also interviews with production designer Ryu Seong-hee and VFX supervisor Jung Seong-jin plus a selection of trailers.

Conclusion

The press release and cover claim that the film is comparable to Pan's Labyrinth, The Orphanage and A Tale of Two Sisters and they're absolutely right - fairytales are dark and disturbing, but ultimately satisfying and Phil-sung Yim has created a wonderful blend of horror and fantasy which explores the melancholic side of childhood. The design and story-telling are top notch, creating a film that hooks you in, providing tension, some scares and a satisfactory dénouement.

The three child actors are terrific with the elder two, Eun-kyoung Shim and Won-jae Eun as the sister and brother and the young Ji-hee Jin putting in a performance beyond her years. Jeong-myoung Chun anchors the film with a solid and effective portrayal of the man torn between looking after these children in need of love and wanting to get to his sick mother's bedside and pregnant wife.

By no means as accomplished as Guillermo del Toro's modern masterpiece, this is an effecting look at life through a child's eyes which deserves repeat viewings.