‘Helpless’ is an amazing thriller from Japan to Korea

One Line Review: ‘Helpless’ is a successful thriller based on a Japanese mystery novel.

Title: Helpless (화차)

Director: Byun Young-joo (변영주)

Starring: Lee Sun Kyun (이선균), Kim Min Hee (김민희), Cho Seong Ha (조성하), Song Ha Yoon (송하윤)

Released in theaters: March 8th, 2012 South Korea

Rating: 4/5

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2308725/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_helpless

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/helpless_2012

01: ‘Helpless’ Characters

Moon Ho – Actor Lee Sun Kyun (이선균)

Moon-ho, the director of a veterinary clinic, travels to her hometown to introduce her fiancé, Sun-young, to her parents.

On the way, he stops at a rest stop and Seon-young disappears.

Moon-ho searches everywhere for Seon-young, but he turns to his cousin and former detective, Jong-geun (Cho Seong Ha), with whom he’s had an unsuccessful relationship.

Seon-Young – Actress Kim Min Hee (김민희)

Seon-young is about to get married to Moon-ho, but after receiving a phone call, she evaporates like a lie.

As Moon-ho and Jong-geun follow her trail, they begin to uncover her hidden past and her true identity, and the more they learn about her, the closer they get to her.

02: Various points and features

02-01: Based on a Japanese mystery novel

This movie, I was pretty pleased with. In fact, I didn’t have high expectations when the trailers and publicity started. I didn’t have high expectations.

After all, Lee Sun Kyun hasn’t been in many movies and it’s harder to find good ones. The other lead actress, Kim Min Hee, had been in a lot of movies but hadn’t done anything impactful or good, so I didn’t expect much from her.

As for director Byun Young-joo, I had heard that she was one of the few female directors in Chungmuro, but I hadn’t actually seen her work.

Another concern was that it was based on a Japanese mystery novel. In Korea, mystery novels are famous in the West, but Japan is a big mystery novel powerhouse, and even mystery comics are famous.

However, when it comes to Korean remakes of Japanese mystery novels, the results have been pretty disappointing. ‘White Night’, a remake of Keigo Higashino’s novel, boasted a stellar cast but struggled at the box office and critically.

Director Yoo Ha’s ‘Howling’ was also very disappointing, despite casting Song Kang-ho and Lee Nayoung. I wasn’t looking forward to this movie for any of these reasons anyway – I thought it would just be a bunch of fluff and end up unreconstructed.

This is the first movie based on the Miyuki Miyabe novel, and it’s said that director Byun Young-joo wrote the screenplay himself and went through a lot of rewrites over the years.

There is not much difference in the content of the novel and the movie, but there is a slight difference in the focus.

02-02: The story of ‘Helpless’

This movie hits you right from the start. Usually, the beginning of a movie introduces the characters and hints at the progression of the story.

However, in this movie, the central event happens not long after the beginning. The central axis of the story is unraveled at the beginning, and the roles and events of the first half of the movie are resolved at the same time.

This is where I could tell that Byun was very deliberate in writing the screenplay.

He managed to keep the suspense going while simultaneously developing the events and characterization of the characters.

I was impressed with how the story flowed like water and didn’t feel weird or awkward at all.

The development of the story after the beginning is not much different from the development of any other movie: the conflict escalates, the
After the climax, we get a resolution.

02-03: Directing ‘Helpless’

However, if the mid- and late-periods were the same as the other films, the movie would have lost its focus and lost its suspense. Byun neatly dispelled that concern.

He draws the audience in by hinting at Seon-young’s identity. He uses the characteristics of the thriller genre brilliantly and doesn’t give the audience a chance to breathe.

It’s safe to say that there are no gory scenes in the movie. The most gruesome scene is the self-inflicted racketeering scene.

but if you look at the stills, it’s not gory at all.

Despite the lack of gore, the movie maintains a breathtaking tension. This is all down to the power of the director, Byun Young-joo.

He brilliantly uses the characteristics of genre films to create tension and fear by leaving nothing to the audience’s imagination.

It definitely shows that you can make a great movie by sticking to the basics, such as editing, angles, shots, and sound.

The end of the movie did feel a little hollow to me, and while I understand that there’s no other option for an ending, the tension is dropped so hard all at once that it doesn’t really resolve, and there’s no real closure for Jong-geun’s character, so I was a little disappointed in that aspect.

I don’t think it was clear what Jong-geun was trying to accomplish by looking for Seon-young, or what his purpose was, so I think it would have been better if the ending had been a little more gradual in bringing down the tension while also wrapping up Jong-geun’s character.

03: ‘Helpless’ Conclusion

It would be a stretch to say that this movie is a masterpiece. It shows the defenselessness of women in South Korea against many forms of violence.

However, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that it’s a masterpiece, and if you’re looking for a good Korean movie from 2012, it’s definitely on that list.

Regardless, this movie is fun.

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