The Quiet Family (1998)
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| Eastern Eye (Australia). Region 4, PAL. 1.85:1 (16:9 enhanced). Korean DD 5.1, Korean DD 2.0. English Subtitles. 96 minutes |
| The Movie |
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| Credits |
Director: Kim Ji-Woon
Starring: In-hwan Park,
Mun-hee Na, Kang-ho Song, Min-sik Choi, Ho-kyung
Go, Yun-seong Lee
Screenplay: Kim Ji-Woon
Country: South Korea
AKA: Choyonghan kajok
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The Quiet Family, or in it's
native Korean, Choyonghan kajok,
was the first film written and directed by Ji-woon
Kim, the man responsible for 2003's chilling Janghwa, Hongryeon a.k.a. A
Tale of Two Sisters. A combination of
horror and comedy, looking a lot like an Asian
Addams Family, and feeling like Poe's The
Telltale Heart, The Quiet Family received three awards when released: the Fantasia
Section Award at 1999's Fantasporto, and
both Best Director and Best Film at the Malaga
International Week of Fantastic Cinema 2000.
The Kang family has decided to get out of the
city, to leave the rat race behind, and so, they
buy a lodge off a hiking track in the mountains.
Business is bad, as in non-existent, until a lone
hiker turns up and takes a room for the night.
The next day, the family discovers that he has
committed suicide, and that his wallet has gone
missing, so to avoid bad publicity or blame, they
bury the body in the woods, and put it behind
them…until the next body turns up…
Setting this film at a lodge gives the filmmaker
an opportunity to drop in many weirdos and miscreants
and you are constantly trying to figure out who
is stranger, the family or the visitors, although
in actual fact they are probably as strange as
each other! The production values on this film
are incredibly high and it is a delight to watch,
a real 'feast for the eye', probably
due to the director's ability to constantly
contrast colors, and give some of the set pieces
real personality. The Quiet Family was remade a few years later by Takahashi Miike
as The Happiness of the Katakuris, although this doesn't have the
characters breaking into song (although the eldest
daughter does sing a bit to get attention) or
acclamation. This film is a black comedy in the
strain of Hollywood flicks such as Very
Bad Things or American Psycho,
not so much for the violence, but certainly the
tongue in cheek irony. |
| Video |
| In general, this disc has a good image, with some
beautifully rich colours and contrasts. There are
points where there is a little bit of artifact interference,
but it is brief, and not a regular occurrence. |
| Audio |
| This being one of your more subtle horror/ black
comedies, the 5.1 sound is not one that will make
your surround sound work too hard. It is, though,
a great restrained track with some very delicately
placed effects. |
| Extra Features |
Cast and Crew Interviews has two interviews, the
first with director Ji-woon Kin (8 minutes 42 seconds)
and the second with actor, Choi-min Sik (who plays
the Uncle in the film and also stars in Oldboy)
(10 minutes 7 seconds). These interviews are in
Korean with English subtitles. They can be frustrating
at times though, as the vision seems to jump around,
but the subtitles remain constant, I am not so sure
this is the greatest translated interview ever (I
would like to get a Korean speaker to watch and
get their opinions actually). It is interesting
to see the guy who played in the Uncle in this film
dressed as Dae-su Oh from Oldboy,
as this interview was done during the production
of that film.
Storyboard Comparison (3 minutes 47 seconds) is
a split screen comparing some of the scenes from The Quiet Family with the original
storyboards.
The original trailer is here (2 minutes 33 seconds),
along with other Madman trailers for Streetfighter's
Last Revenge (from the Sonny Chiba Collection
Volume 1), Inner Senses and Breaking
News.
The Stills Gallery is simply a series of 15 stills
from the film. |
| The Verdict |
| Both humorous and suspenseful, The Quiet
Family is a slow paced thriller with slapstick
elements. If you don't mind you films a bit
deliberate and maybe even a little 'arty farty',
you will probably enjoy it.
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