Apr
5
2008
Rainbow Eyes
Posted by luna6 13 Comments
Movie: Rainbow Eyes / 가면
Release Date: December 27, 2007
Country: South Korea
Director: Yun-ho Yang
Starring: Kang-woo Kim, Min-sun Kim
Runtime: 99 Min.
Editor Rating: 7.0
Users Rating: 7.81 
(16 votes)
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Just when you think you’ve seen it all with Korean thrillers, and there certainly isn’t a shortage of serial killer based thrillers coming out of Chungmuro these days, comes along the highly stylized, utterly unpredictable, and proudly overblown, “Rainbow Eyes.” The movie hits you like a shot of double espresso when you’re suffering from a sever case of cabin fever. Yes indeed, there’s plenty of angst and jitters produced in the movie’s run-up, which then leads to an absolutely off-the-wall finale that easily crosses into the realm of the absurd.
In “Rainbow Eyes” Kyeong-yoon (Kang-woo Kim) and Eun-ju (Min-sun Kim) investigate a grisly murder of an affluent entrepreneur. The victim was slashed over 20 times and there’s blood everywhere in his apartment. The killer was careful not to leave behind incriminating evidence, but nevertheless, a strand of the killer’s hair is found. The police are then able to determine that the killer is male and has AB bloodtype.
Shortly after the first grisly murder a second murder occurs. The victims seem to be unrelated but the modus operandi seems the same. When the police delve deeper into the victims’ background they discover that the two victims were stationed at the same military base many years ago. A month prior to their discharge they were transferred to another base along with a third man by the name Jay Bae. The police now believe Jay Bae could be the next victim or the killer. Their investigation has only just begun.
And that’s just the start to “Rainbow Eyes.”
Visuals like the rest of the film, are cranked up to an excessive degree. Perhaps made that way to create a secondary smoke screen for the movie’s shocking twists that are set to unfurl, you can’t help to note the various visual tricks shown onscreen. Some scenes like the roving camera work at the police station impressed, while the sped up over-saturated outdoor scenes were overbaked. The two scenes with the clock spinning backwards was a nice touch. Also, for the first time in many eons, there’s even a stylish nude scene found in a Korean film, this one involving Kang-woo Kim and Su-kyeong Lee.
When thinking about Korean performers that have stepped out of their usual choices of characters there has been lot of recent attention given to Tae-Hee Kim and Ye-Jin Son. Another name that should be thrown in that mix should be Min-sun Kim. She has made a complete 180 degree turn from the frail effeminate roles of the past. Kim impresses as a hard nose female cop in “Rainbow Eyes.” Main thespian Kang-woo Kim rebounds nicely from his lackluster performance in “Le Grand Chef” and breaths life into the pivotal character of Kyeong-yoon. There’s also veteran supporting actor Won-sang Park, giving the best performance that I have seen from him.
While the first 80% of “Rainbow Eyes” seemed to fire on all cylinders, when the curtain was finally raised to reveal all the secrets weaved into the film … well those answers were a few orders of magnitude too gimmicky for me. Totally unfathomable in real life, your own taste for outlandish twists will largely determine how well you respond to the finale. The movie also seemed to hinge on a twist popularized in a famed British movie from the 1990’s, but that was irrelevant to me. Thinking about the origins of influences hard enough will inevitably lead you down a slippery slope until conceivably you’re stuck at the basic question of the origins of the universe. So I won’t go there. With that said, even if you knew what movie I was referring too, you still wouldn’t guess the correct identity of the killer. It’s that crazy!
When it’s all said and done, it’s hard to deny that “Rainbow Eyes” is an exciting murder mystery / thriller, with layers that leaves you grappling for correct answers. A word to the wise about those shocking twists & surprises. You will likely never guess the correct answers because the answers are just so blatantly whacky. If that’s OK with you, than you’ll likely have a ball with “Rainbow Eyes.” I know I did.
Cast:
Kang-woo Kim – Kyeong-yoon Cho
Min-sun Kim – Eun-ju
Su-kyeong Lee – Su-jin Cha
Chang-kyun Choi – Jay Bae
Ji-yeong Oh – Mi-sook Jung (nightclub singer)
Won-sang Park
Sung-ryeong Kim – Hae-suh
Won-yeong Jang – Rapist
If you like this movie you may enjoy: Seven Days
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2007 Movie Reviews, Korean Movies, Movie Reviews |
Comments
13 Comments so far
Pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this movie. Some nice touches with the camerawork and a bunch of cool tricks and techniques. The movie went by fast, not one slow moment. Pretty cool.
Absolutely! That’s why I enjoy sooooo much watching mystery movies.
Don’t you love it when they make movies like this that keep your brain busy all the time :-)
SPOILERS CONTAIN:
THANKS sooooo much for spending time on having the movie a second viewing so as to answer my questions. While Yoon-suh truly doesn’t appear someone who is capable of murdering in such a brutal way (too much a softie), I also accept Scenario 2 more based upon your comments on the “not making very much sense” parts cited in Scenario 1. (-:
Hey KRRJNN ….
After second viewing, I actually feel less sure about my original understanding of the film’s plot.
*** Spoilers here so if you haven’t watched “Rainbow Eyes” yet, you probably should stop reading here.****
On the first go around I assumed Yoon-suh Lee was the killer and kitchen man just hacked the singer at the end of the film. Now after watching it again, it does seem like kitchen man could have killed victims #1, #2, and the singer. So it could have played out like this ….
Scenario #1 – Kitchen Man as the killer :
Kitchen Man killed first two victims because of jealousy. As you mentioned Kitchen Man must have killed victim #1 shortly after Yoon-suh encoutered victim #1 (extremely lucky right there). What doesn’t make as much sense is that the first victim discovered Yoon-suh’s idenity by her own admission (no way he could have guessed it) – and more importantly why would she give away her identity without intending to kill him afterwards?
Sister of Yoon-suh learned of her brother’s new identity later in the film, when Yoon-suh visited her. Also in another odd moment, when the cop confronted Yoon-suh near the end of the film, Yoon-suh “only” confessed to the first two killings to calm the cop down and in fact didn’t kill them (improbable)?
If Yoon-suh didn’t kill victims #1 and #2, then wouldn’t she have attempted some sort of reconciliation after her boyfriend (the cop) learned of her true identity? (ex. “honey im sorry for hiding my identity, but you did come on to me first (at the subway stop), you do find me attractive, underneath I’m still the same person you dream about, and you don’t have to worry anymore about people thinking you’re gay. So what’s to worry about? Oh you killed victim #3? Well nobody knows that except your partner who will probably keep it a secret!)
Scenario #2 – Yoon-suh as the killer (more probable) :
Yoon-suh hacked victims #1 and #2, the cop hacked victim #3. Also, in this scenario it makes a lot more sense that Yoon-suh revealed her identity to victim #1 prior to killing him and at the end of the film Yoon-suh and the cop drove off the highway together.
In the final twist, Kitchen Man hacked the singer only. Kitchen Man did tell her during that scene that he didn’t kill the others ..but why was his gloves bloody? Who knows? But it doesn’t have much bearing on whether he killed victims #1 and #2.
Conclusion:
So as of now, I’m inclined to believe in the second scenario, with Yoon-suh killing the fist two victims out of revenge/hatred. Makes more sense to me than scenario #1.
Hopefully someone else can answer your questions, I forgot the details of this movie by now, but if not I’ll give it a crack in a couple of days.
luna6
SPOILERS contain…..
1) Who the murderer of the 1st 2 victims? I assume it’s the “kitchen man” as he is in love with the Singer. He kills out of jealousy as Singer has sex with both men.
2) If “kitchen man” is the killer, when does he kill the 1st victim? It’s after Su-Jin Cha (the transgender) being kissed and hit by the 1st victim? And that’s why Su-Jin Cha’s strand of hair is left in the nail of the 1st victim??
3) How does the 1st victim get to know that Su-Jin Cha is actually Yoon-Suh Lee even Detective Kyeong-yoon Cho is clueless all the way?
4) When does Yoon-Suh Lee’s sister know that Yoon-Suh Lee has become a transgender? She keeps entreating Detective Cho to find out the whereabouts of her missing brother….
Can someone answer the questions? I enjoyed the movie much, but hate to have so many qusetions un-answered…
TXS!! (-:
Hey Mercurysnow – I believe Su-kyeong Lee previously appeared in “Tazza the High Rollers” and “Wet Dreams 2 (Mongjunggi 2)” in supporting roles. On top of that she will appear in an upcoming film titled “Feel So Good” that includes Min-ki Lee, Eugene, and Seon-gyun Lee – no word on the release date but it should be released sometime later this year.
Also if you want to see more of her … this is her cyworld page -
http://minihp.cyworld.com/pims/main/pims_main.asp?tid=38964639
click on the fourth tab on the right column to view photos etc.
cheers..
I think Lee Su-Kyung’s performance was good in this film. Was this her first film? Because of her appearance on Korean variety show, and other TV role, I thought she could only play a wacky girl type. Also, the director could had easily picked other obvious Korean actress for her role, but I’m glad he didn’t make that mistake. I think overall, the plot was not great, but OK. But I too really didn’t like the bike ending scene.
one of the better thrillers i have seen in a while, top entertainment !!!
8 out of 10
It seems to me that there are several twists in the movie.
For the “main” twist there were a few hints all along so I figured out the nature of the twist a few minutes before it was revealed. Still at that point I didn’t know who it was. The “who” that was revealed was on the top of my list but I wasn’t sure.
The last twist happens after the “directed by Yang Yun-ho” screen. That one I didn’t see it comming at all. My understanding is that only at that point the true nature of the murders are known. Am I wrong ?
I find some similarities with “seven days” in the filmmaking technics : the fast pacing, the colors, the camera work… Overall very impressive, but I think the film director was showing-off a bit.
Im impressed that you got that ending in advance. I didnt see it coming at all.
FWIW, I thought the twist in Rainbow Eyes was completely obvious and really came as no surprise at all. The movie constantly beats you over the head with themes of ambiguity. I could not help figuring it out by at least the midpoint of the film and I had my suspicions much earlier on. Still, I agree that the ending was contrived and completely unrealistic.