301, 302

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Audience Member This low budget mystery/drama/horroresque charade prides itself on being an odd and mystifying yet well built character driven tale focusing on bulimia, obesity, the indulgence of food in relation to sex. The suspenseful compelling aspects this imposes on the audience is expertly crafted for such a low budget film by Park Chul-Soo. SCRIPT An inventive premise this analytical look at two womens psychological problems. The first in appartment 301 suffered sexual abuse, disturbing events and genuine horror. This account for her anorexia and bulimia. In the opposite appartment at 302 we have the obsessive-compulsive housewife who through lack of interest from her husband gradually starts losing her mind, as her fascination with food experiments goes too far. While the lack of characters is a setback, the flashback sequences that show the neglect 302 has from her husband helps create sentiment and scarily, reason for her actions, while 301's bulimia prevents her from eating any of 301's cooking. The odd chemistry is primarily due to a decent script, savouring all the little details that make asian cinema so interesting. CHARACTERS What is interesting about the dissimilation between these two women is having this fragile woman combined with a much stronger and more odd one , with both having experienced suffering. This is shown in a sequence where 301 remarks to her mother 'why don't I disappear'; the symbology and connotations are present throughout the film, with her self-imposed isolationism from the outside world. More intriging than what is on the surface. ACTING With minimal characters it was always going to be up to Bang Eun-Jin and Hwang Shin-hye to really portray such interesting characters, and while there is a certain darkly comical aspect throughout, Chul-soo's direction of the two is well executed. The strong performances carry the weight of a film which is set in about three rooms. DIRECTION In Krzysztof Kislowski's outstanding Three Colours Red he presented two completely different characters and let their relationship unfold. A similar aspect is made here though not to the scale or believability as TCR. However there is enough interesting connections to be made in the film that it could be watched again, and for such a little known about film. Cheol creates enough suspense and interest to warrant a positive rating. GENRE CONVENTIONS & ORIGINALITY While the script and conventions of the film suffer in the middle, 301/302 remains much more than a simple drama. The premise is simple yet genuinely interesting and the filming of these characters whether they are cooking food or vomiting is always expertly crafted. However the finale, though thought-provoking is ultimately a let down for such a build up, and while it is such a good concept and fulfils each womans wish it never really satisifes like Audition did. SCORE Poor mid 1990's Japanese synths are not exactly pleasure to the ears, and the music remains one of the worst features of the film as it disconnects moments which could have been made more emotional. OUTRO 301/302 combines the build up and suspense of Audition with less blood spilt along the way however solid understated performances and the odd inventive camera angle cannot hide the fact that not a lot is actually happening. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member hmmm i though this is better..... was not Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member A somewhat macabre tale featuring gourmet cooking. I'm not giving anything away, but the ending is seriously twisted... in more than one sense of the word. You will need to pay close attention and if you will notice a few minor details, you will realize it's not quite what it seems and it will put the entire movie into a completely different perspective. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Strange korean movie, but I liked it. 3/5 Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member this was a pretty good movie the lead girl is hot and damn she is crazy if nobody likes her food lol Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review walter m "301, 302" starts with a detective coming to apartment #301 to ask Song-hee(Eun-jin Bang) if she has any idea what happened to Yun-hee(Sin-Hye Hwang) who lives in #302 and has apparently disappeared. At first, what she does know could fill a pamphlet, arriving after a divorce and after Yun-hee was already living in the building. So, while Yun-hee lived a quiet life amongst her books, that is disrupted by Song-hee building the perfect kitchen in her own apartment. She uses that new kitchen to cook all sorts of exotic dishes, keeping a journal of them. She even shares some of them with her neighbor who sadly cannot enjoy them. "301, 302" is a movie that definitely sets out to shock but instead is just going to have to settle for disquieting. A lot of that comes from a middling execution, especially tipping its hand much too early. Too much time is spent reliving the obvious details of Song-hee's marriage when instead it could have rather developed the relationship between the two women. On another level, the movie sort of wants to have something to say about women's roles and body issues. And excuse me for being literal but does Yun-hee not eat at all? If so, how does she remain active? Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

301, 302

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