The Call is a new South Korean thriller, a directorial debut from Lee Chung-hyun, who co-wrote the film with Kang Sun-ju. It follows a woman, Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye), who moves to a house that her father had intended on buying when she was a child. Unfortunately for her, she lost her cell phone on the train ride over, and is stuck for the time being a cordless landline phone in the house. Things take a turn when she begins receiving a call that turns out to be Young-sook (Jeon Jong-seo), a young woman who is calling from the same house…20 years ago.
In a manner of speaking, The Call could be considered a time travel film, but it’s one that actually doesn’t involve any kind of real traveling from one time period to another, focusing more on how actions in the past can result in certain consequences in the future. It veers away from the sci-fi trappings often associated with the genre, and takes a more fantastical approach. If one were to try to pin down the rules and logic of how these women interact and change things, it would fall apart rather quick.
Thankfully, Lee is extremely talented at not only keeping a level of suspense sustained for so much of the runtime, but also keeping the audience guessing at what could happen. It only takes about half an hour for the initially established status quo to alter, and other avenues are soon being explored, taking the story in directions that didn’t even seem like something that would even be a possibility, occasionally crossing the threshold into full blown horror. It’s an assured debut, one that knows how to mask some of the flimsy plot mechanics with craft, ingenuity, and a careful attention on the characters.
While there are some supporting players like Oh Jeong-se, Kim Sung-ryung, Lee El, Lee Dong-hwi, and Park Ho-san scattered about, and this is not to take away the good work they all did here, the film rests on the shoulders of its two leads, Park Shin-hye and Jeon Jong-seo. Park is someone we saw not too long ago in #Alive, and Jeon was a major player in the masterful Burning from a couple years back, so it’s not surprising that they both individually deliver strong performances. What is cool is how they create such a electric dynamic despite not sharing the same space on screen for so much of the film.
However, the film is by no means flawless. One thing that stands out is the motivation of Young-sook, whose character takes a turn almost halfway through. She becomes a sadistic, antagonistic force, and while that can be explained by the ruthless treatment of her shaman stepmother, the film basically implies that it’s due to her having a couple mental illnesses, which I don’t think was necessary. I think we’re at a point where filmmakers should know that having any kind of mental illness doesn’t automatically turn you into a killer.
And while most of the wonky time mechanics can be forgiven for how it informs and propels the story on an emotional level, there are points towards the final act where the filmmakers really begin to push the suspension of disbelief to its limit in regards to how the past affects and changes the future. But because the film does a good job at getting me invested, I was willing to go with it. What I struggled to go with, however, was the ending. Not the ending that you might think, though, there are a few short scenes during the credits that adds a new element to what we saw before the credits hit, and frankly, I’m not a fan. I was plenty happy with how it ended as it hit the credits, and the choices made in those short bits felt cheap.
It speaks to the skills of everyone involved that despite those gripes I have, I still think The Call is one of the better thrillers I’ve seen all year. From the moment it first reveals that the mysterious caller is someone in the house, but from the year 1999, I was hooked, and it kept me in its grasp for the entirety of its runtime. It is incredibly tense and stress-inducing, and I was sitting the whole time watching the film wondering what could happen next, and at practically every turn, I was surprised. And as tense as it is, it is clearly having fun with its big central idea, and it goes out of its way to take that idea into every possible direction that it can. It’s great high concept filmmaking with plenty of style to spare, and it’s one I would highly recommend.
The Call is now available on Netflix.