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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
Honestly, you should only watch this if you are a history nerd or someone who likes seeing how people complained about marriage 100 years ago.
If you need fast cars or explosions, you are going to hate this movie. It moves like a snail on a cold day.
But for the three people out there who like grainy silent films from Korea, it is a weird little treasure. It is basically a soap opera without the sound.
Ung Na plays the pianist. He looks like he hasn't slept in three weeks, which makes sense because his wife is a nightmare.
Jeong-suk Kim plays the wife. She is supposed to be 'vain' and 'self-indulgent,' which in 1930s movie language means she likes nice clothes and talking to guys who aren't her husband.
There is this one scene where she is just looking in a mirror. It goes on for so long I thought the film had frozen.
She is checking her hair and her jewelry while her husband is probably in the other room playing some sad song on the piano. You can feel the resentment through the screen.
It reminds me a little bit of the drama in Playing with Fire, though maybe a bit more grounded in everyday misery.
The film quality is pretty rough. There are lines and dots dancing all over the image.
Sometimes it is hard to tell who is talking to who because the subtitles—if you have them—are tiny.
I found myself wondering what kind of piano he was playing. It looked expensive for the time.
The movie tries really hard to make you feel bad for the husband. Like, really hard.
He just sits there looking at his sheet music while she flirts with some guy in a suit. It is a bit much after the first twenty minutes.
If you’ve seen The Living Corpse, you know how these old dramas can just hang on a single expression. This movie does that constantly.
One reaction shot of the husband looking sad lingers for at least ten seconds too long. It starts to get almost funny.
I think the director really wanted us to understand he was suffering. Okay, we get it, he is sad!
The wife’s 'friends' are all very flashy. They wear these hats that look like they might tip over at any second.
It is interesting to see the mix of traditional and Western styles in 1930s Korea. That was probably the most interesting part for me.
The piano itself feels like a symbol of him trying to be 'modern' or 'sophisticated' while his life falls apart. Or maybe it’s just a piano.
It is not a 'fun' watch. It is more like looking at an old, dusty photo album that belongs to someone you don't know.
You can see bits of The Uneasy Three in the way the tension builds between the couple. It is all about those small, mean looks.
By the end, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to hate the wife or just feel bad for both of them. They both seem pretty miserable in that house.
"The silence in this movie is louder than any argument they could have had with sound."
That is probably too deep for a movie about a guy who just needs a better hobby than playing piano for a mean lady. But hey, that's silent cinema for you.
The ending feels a bit rushed, like they ran out of film or the actors had to go home. It just sort of... stops.
Anyway, if you find a copy of this, watch it with a very large cup of coffee. You will need it to stay awake through the long pauses. ☕
It is a decent look at 1930s life, even if the story is a bit of a cliché. It’s okay, just okay.
IMDb 6.1
1931
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