Korean Horror: The Red Shoes

By: DThompson | in: Movies |

Red Shoes

Up until 2006 when anyone said “The Red Shoes” in association with film they were talking about Powell and Pressburger’s masterpiece about ballet or something. I haven’t seen it myself, but I’ve heard good things and I know it’s one of Martin Scorsese’s favorite films so I’m sure it’s probably pretty good.
This review is not about that movie, You know, the one I was just talking about; the good one that Marty likes.
From the very start, where the credits literally drip blood, you can pretty much tell what you’re in for. Well, at least you think you can. It’s an excellent opening sequence. Neo-classic “Phantom of the Opera” organ music plays over images of the gleaming chrome, stone and tile interiors of a modern Korean subway. A girl stands alone on the cavernous platform, then, there they are – a pair of pink shoes.
-Huh? Pink shoes?

Red Shoes

That’s right, The Red Shoes is all about a pair of cursed pink shoes. So, the girl on the platform picks up the red, er, pink shoes, (these are girl shoes, not high tops, so it’s only girls who have to worry, as usual) then tussles with another girl over them shouting “Ma!” again and again. (“Ma!” is revealed in the subtitles to mean “Hey!” but I’m willing to bet its actual meaning is considerably less polite). Anyway, girl # 2 wrenches the red, er, pink shoes from girl # 1 and wears them smugly through an enormous impersonal subway concourse which is the cleanest emptiest subway concourse you’ve ever seen.
Then, suddenly the shoes are off and girl # 2’s feet are off as well! I guess she learned her lesson about stealing another girl’s shoes! Karma’s a “Ma!”

Red Shoes

After this highly stylized blood-soaked opening you might think you were going to watch a scary movie, or maybe even a vaguely interesting one. You would be sadly mistaken. As the next twenty minutes winds on you come to realize what the true curse of the red, er, pink shoes is. The curse of the over-rated foreign film with an eye-catching DVD cover. From our slam-bang eye-candy beginning we descend to marital infidelity (chills!), a dirty apartment! (thrills!), that gets fixed up in two scenes (OMG!), and the sheer spectacle of a grown woman fighting on the floor with her five year old daughter over the aforementioned red, er, pink shoes. (Though by now the color of the stupid shoes is the least of your worries, trust me).

Red Shoes

All the ghostly hoopla and cursed whatnot and gibber jaw doodling is supposed to stem from a barely comprehensible WW II love afair between the daughter of a pro-Japanese guy and a Korean. So, this not only suffers from the curse of the over-rated foreign film with an eye-catching DVD cover, it also suffers the curse of the weighty yet obscenely over-complicated historical undercurrent B-plot.
It all winds up throwing the curse idea in the crapper (or WC as you non-colonials say) in favor of an ending stolen from Angel Heart , even managing to throw a wet blanket over your precious memory of the first five minutes when the movie still seemed good and life something worth living.

VERDICT: Run for your life.

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Posted on February 5, 2007

Comments

4 Responses to “Korean Horror: The Red Shoes”

Charbarred on February 5th, 2007 8:56 am

But the pictures look so cool!

DThompson on February 5th, 2007 12:44 pm

That ’s just part of the curse. The evil part that sucks you in and then, when it’s too late, you remember the old adage about putting lipstick on a pig.

Julia on February 6th, 2007 6:37 pm

Hmm, I don’t know who Powell and Pressburger are, but “The Red Shoes” I saw was a 1930’s classic when they used to put that stuff on TV back in the 50’s and 60’s.

Fennis on May 16th, 2007 8:02 am

Come on, I think you just got up in the fun of leaving a bitchy review… we all know how easy and fun this can be.

For the record, The Red Shoes is a fun, often spooky film that if not original, still manages to entertain and deliver some nice visuals. I think Powell would have enjoyed it.