Posts by Patrick Martin

Noah Roberts46 said:At this rate, even the blind should be able to see the truth, though I doubt Ajuto will. Looking forward to a clever rebuttal. ☕

What does this director actually know about his own film? 🐔

Joseph Edwards4 said:You all have one major issue. The director describes the scene where the Shaman performs his ritual as "Putting a Hex," which implies a curse. That makes your entire interpretation pretty problematic. Then you have an angel at the end repeating what our protagonist says, yet the man lacks both faith and patience. Finally, there's that ending where the Shaman takes either a photo or the hero's soul.

Regardless, this is easily the best film of the year so far. The atmosphere is stunning from the opening shot, almost reminding me of Seven during those first few minutes. There’s some decent humor sprinkled in, too, and that scene where the Shaman does his thing is genuinely one of the highlights.

It doesn't necessarily have to be just about the little girl
🤷
before the whole family—including the cop—gets hit by a curse, and it’s not even the Shaman's fault; it happens because they messed up during his session.

The Shaman ended up being in way over his head himself (I mean, if he actually had a deal with the devil, I guess he wouldn't have been 🤷 ) and he just wanted the whole mess to be over with. By the end, he was basically throwing out bad advice without even realizing it because he was totally lost. Everything just spiraled in the wrong direction—there was no coming back from that. He didn't even have a clue what was happening to himself, let alone to that lost cop...

Finally, thanks Kurtz, someone actually making sense for once ☕ 😬

Dennis Martin6 said:That woman in white you were calling pure goodness? She straight up said the Shaman is working with the devil. If she’s supposed to be all "pure good," how can she be lying through her teeth? How can we trust a single word she says?

Look, I think I made my point pretty clear regarding my take on the Shaman. Just because she claims he's untrustworthy—basically saying he's just a puppet—doesn't mean he's actually in league with the devil. It’s exactly what I’ve been preaching: the guy is there for the paycheck, which makes him totally unreliable and wide open to shady business, especially after that whole session went south.
So, when she told her not to listen to him, it wasn't because they're running some direct deal with the devil.

Dennis Martin6 said:You both are right and wrong at the same damn time. Look—this movie's plot makes zero sense if you're only looking through one lens. You've gotta account for three different perspectives—the devil, the woman in white, and the director. Each one of them is playing the main guy—and by extension, us—like a fiddle. Every single one of those angles is just as real. It's actually wild because the lead character gets punished both arbitrarily and for his own sins all at once. The detective just can't see past his own narrow worldview, and yeah, it ends in tragedy. The whole film is basically a twisted noir morality tale about being stuck in a single mindset. The protagonist got trapped, but don't fall for it too. 😁

Look, if the main guy—the detective, or whatever you want to call him—got "hooked," then everyone else would've been caught in the trap too. And I’m talking about those people pushing that theory that the Shaman is actually working with the devil. Total nonsense. Because if that were true, they all would've pulled the plug right at the climax, which would've basically handed that Japanese person a clean slate and a second chance.

And obviously, the kid was in danger during the session because she was essentially the barometer for that struggle. It was a total toss-up until the very last millisecond, just exhausting to watch. She might have made it, but the old man buckled under her pleas—which, let's be real, was the final move the Japanese person initiated just to try and claw his way out of it.

Rachel Cooper3 said:My take? He’s on the dark side (possessed/infected)—that's exactly why this happened to him.

Goddammit, give me a break—he almost wiped him out! It literally took one more hit from the sledgehammer on that wedge and that Japanese person would've been toast, so how on earth is he "infected" or "possessed"?

Man, we clearly weren't watching the same movie!

The Shaman just ended up being more vulnerable because he couldn't finish the job,
and he’s gonna need some serious downtime after this mess before he can even think about getting back to work.

Noah Roberts46 said:You’d be so much better off if you actually understood him. ☕

Yeah, sure, I guess all these little fan theories of yours are totally spot on. 👍

Not even a damn dog would believe the crap you guys are trying to shove down our throats. ☕

Mark White11 said:"The rooster will crow three times, and then you'll lose me," Jesus Peter said—and man, this movie pulls so many parallels to Christianity, which is pretty surprising. Even at the end, when that good angel tells him to wait until the rooster crows three times so his family can be saved, but he just refuses to listen.

Honestly, though? That ritual is the best part of the movie—probably one of the most striking scenes I've seen all year.

I'm with you there. That Shaman is absolutely out of his mind—total legend, but man, he’s a wild one, even for a Japanese person.

Gerald Jackson48 said:Korean filmmakers used to really make me chew on certain ideas or situations that popped up on screen. Even when they were playing it safe, they knew how to take a shock scene and turn it into something genuinely innovative. But hey...

This one didn't really get my gears turning. Once you strip away the local superstitions and the director's obvious attempts to make the audience feel uneasy, you're left with a pretty standard good versus evil story filled with cardboard characters serving the director's agenda.

It reminds me of a musician who has all the technical skill in the world but hits a creative wall. Instead of writing one killer melody that hits you right in the feels, they just bury the song in extra layers, hoping something sticks.

Anyway, it didn't win me over. That doesn't mean it won't work for someone else, but I'll be looking for my next movie fix somewhere else.

Yeah, it's a basic story, sure, but the way they pulled it off was super striking and actually pretty cool. Even when there's too much of that "deep thinking" stuff you mentioned,
I think it's a really compelling look at that eternal struggle between good and evil, and everything caught in the middle.

Rachel Cooper3 said:And why did that Japanese person burn those photos? I don't get it—did he even burn them? Or did they just end up in that Shaman's box... 🤔
It’s absolute nonsense to me.

In my view, that wasn't standard vomiting; it was some higher power. Don't forget that blood started pouring from his nose like the Niagaran Falls.

those pictures are basically there to remind you we're dealing with "collectors," right? Like, those things are trophies to them. The devil is building his "archive" while the Shaman builds his. They're both pushing their own agendas, basically working together like two sides of the same coin.

I don't think that's just regular vomiting; it feels like some higher power at work. Don't forget his nosebleed started pouring out like Niagara Falls.

Well yeah, obviously it's a higher power. When that "guardian" figure—you know, pure good—is around, even he doesn't feel comfortable because he knows deep down that part of him is just fundamentally wrong. He's acting like a parasite, really, just feeding off the lives of the possessed.

Rebecca Peterson3 said:I couldn't agree more.

Sign your name to what? The movie gives you exactly what you're looking for—it's all right there.

Spoiler alert!
Look at the ending. We get this shot where the statue is just sitting there, totally motionless in the Shaman's car while he’s tossing that trunk full of paintings into the back. And then, immediately after, we cut to the father, also standing perfectly still, hovering over his slaughtered family, trying to soothe himself by muttering under his breath: "It's okay... everything's fine... my little one... Daddy's a cop... Daddy will figure it out... Daddy will..."

It's a suggestion that both faith and organized religion are often completely useless, yet somehow essential for society to keep spinning. Because evil is always lurking, just waiting for someone to trip up or get hooked.

Noah Roberts46 said:It’s pointless. Sure, you can interpret a movie in a dozen different ways, but your take just doesn't hold water for me. Once you've already decided what you're going to believe, any further discussion becomes a tedious waste of time. So, let's just agree to disagree. 🙂

Let's just hang tight and see what the rest of the crowd thinks ☕

Noah Roberts46 said:No, the Japanese person isn't the demon—they're just a possessed individual acting as the vessel for it, much like how a Shaman performs tasks on its behalf. Later during the ritual, the Japanese person actually fought back against the demon, effectively weakening its influence.

He warned his father not to break the ritual because they were attempting to force that evil spirit into the girl while simultaneously purging the good spirit protecting her. Of course he wanted the ritual to succeed.

The girl wasn't infected; she was possessed. If she were truly possessed, she would have been killing people already.

I think both the Japanese person and the Shaman were photographing victims. To be honest, the distinction between the "living" and "dead" shots isn't clear to me either; maybe they were just photographing the possessed before "finishing them off." Personally, I think the demon at the end is more about shock value and symbolism to rattle the audience.🤷

Honestly, why do you guys even care?

It’s obvious the Japanese person was possessed the whole time; the devil is literally inside them.
By the end, after resisting every single attempt to wipe them out, they actually get stronger than ever. They even take on that primal, demonic look.
And the Shaman? At the end of the day, he's just a witness to the whole mess. He tried, but it didn't work, and honestly, from the way he was acting, you could tell from the jump that his exorcism attempts were becoming totally routine and half-assed.
When he finally runs into the "guardian" in front of that bitch, he spills everything—his entire reality, the whole situation he's trapped in. He realizes just how dangerous this stuff is because even the "good/innocent" side is starting to look down on him.

He warned his father not to break the ritual because it was meant to trap that evil spirit in the little girl and push out the good spirit protecting her, so obviously, he wanted the ritual to succeed.

What "good spirit"? The kid got sick and kept getting worse, so that's why they brought in a Shaman. What kind of freaking "good spirit" are we talking about here?

The little girl was infected, not possessed. If she were possessed, she would have been killing people already.

The Shaman saw the whole thing coming and warned them about the different stages. They failed to cast the demon out of her, so naturally, things just spiraled out of control.

Noah Roberts46 said:He wasn't driving the demon out; he was doing the exact opposite by forcing it into her, essentially trying to kill off her guardian spirit. If they had actually pulled that off, the kid would’ve been possessed and gone on a killing spree, but luckily, that didn't happen. At least this way makes sense to me. 🤷

I actually dig the Shaman because he isn't the predictable trope you'd expect him to be. 😁

So wait, was he basically destroying the Japanese person/demon at the same time? Like, if he wiped out the Japanese person, the demon would've been kicked right out of her, and the guy was practically a goner anyway 🤷

And wasn't it pretty clear when he warned the father not to interrupt him under any circumstances?

Then why even bother with all that ritualistic nonsense if the girl is already possessed?
Sorry, but I'm just not seeing the logic here. 🤷

Mark White11 said:The Shaman was in on the whole scheme with that Japanese person from the get-go—it’s pretty much staring you right in the face. Both of them have been evil since day one.
He claimed he wasn't going to stop the session because the whole thing was part of the design, but the father stepped in once he saw what was actually happening to the girl.

What was he doing to the girl? He was performing an exorcism, man. It wasn't pretty—I'm guessing it looked pretty brutal, just like how they showed it in the movie,
and that demon actually suggested they end the session near the end through the daughter (all that screaming and whispering), which is exactly what they ended up doing.
If they had just held on for a little longer, the spirit would've been kicked out.

Because then what was the point of the whole ritual and all that circus anyway?

The Shaman's issue is that he does this for the paycheck, so he's constantly walking that fine line between good and evil, though he's technically useful in his own way. He's seasoned, it's basically routine for him now, which is why he takes photos for his "archive" while the devil keeps taking his for his.
Meanwhile, she, the "guardian," is pure goodness.
Basically, he relies on the willpower and strength of the people he's helping; if they aren't strong enough or if they screw up (if the evil takes over), then he's totally helpless.

Like I said before, I think the Shaman is cool, not just as this specific character in the film, but because the actor is great. He killed that performance.

Noah Roberts46 said:I think you finally caught on, even if the movie is pretty twisted and open to interpretation.

The Shaman and the Japanese person were basically under the influence of some demonic force—whatever you want to call it—using them as tools to snatch the souls of their victims through painting. That woman toward the end is actually a benevolent figure (another spirit or Shaman) who’s been protecting the girl and her family up until then. That’s why the ending hits so hard; just when you think you're getting some cliché twist...

EDIT: Just stumbled upon a really interesting breakdown:

It lays it out pretty clearly that this is all just a subjective take,
🤷which is fine.

And look, I agree with a lot of what’s said here, but regarding the Shaman, my take is that he was right on the edge of losing himself to the darkness, but somehow managed to snap out of it just in time. Especially once he realized that family was a lost cause because they weren't even fighting for themselves. 🤷
So, he tells the father straight up not to interrupt the ritual, and what does this absolute moron do?
He breaks the session right when the evil is practically finishing the job.
And that’s when it clicks for him—there’s no saving them. Those paintings at the end are basically like distorted memories of the victims from both sides. And let's be real, someone else is gonna come calling for that Shaman somewhere down the road, and as long as we don't find someone strong enough to stand their ground, this evil stuff is never going away.
It’s just how life works, man. The Shaman moves on, the evil moves on, and they just keep circling back until they collide again.

Noah Roberts46 said:SPOILER

Look, the guy is just pure evil—totally obsessed. 😬

Nah, he wasn't quite there, though he was definitely teetering on the edge before pulling himself back.
In the end, the dude just threw everyone else under the bus to save his own skin.
☕

Man, watching this was like a massive trip down memory lane, revisiting all those incredible masterpieces from the South Korean cinema scene that I basically lived and breathed for a solid chunk of time. And look, even though my whole family and everyone else I know keeps hyping up their work, there are still plenty of people who think these movies are total garbage. Honestly, they still give me these weird looks to this day whenever I start raving about them or trying to get them to watch.

Hands down, this is the most polished and mature film from Martin Scorsese.
This time around, he really expanded his toolkit by leaning into that classic South Korean fun&fear vibe—that specific element where you're bouncing between laughing your head off and being absolutely terrified. Though, fair warning, that last quarter of the movie pivots hard into full-blown horror.
My gut feeling? Every single frame and every tiny movement from the actors feels intentional. When everything hits that perfectly, you know you're looking at a masterpiece.

And man, that Shaman guy? Top tier. Absolute legend.

👍👍👍👍👍

Just for Rabbit

Dennis Martin6 said:Look, it’s a dumb story with even dumber dialogue. Sure, it takes place in the fashion world, but what else have you got? You get a few attempts at these hypnotic audio-visual sequences, but all they really achieve is making you feel sorry for the characters. If anyone actually digs this movie visually, it’s strictly because of the production design and the sets—not because of any actual cinematography or directing skill. The camera work is boring, predictable, and always right where you expect it to be. Every frame is clear and easy to read. There isn't a single attempt to catch you off guard. It’s all just designed for mindless consumption.
The audience basically gets pacified by a sugary aesthetic and some overly sentimental music.

exactly 👍

cheaply made junk produced in Taiwan ☕