I watched this interesting Korean psycho-thriller film last night. It's the second time I've seen it as I watched it on DVD about 3 years ago. It is a very stylish, intelligent, macabre and atmospheric chiller with some fine performances and art direction, and one I would recommend you watch (though 'OldBoy' is ten times better!)

HOWEVER!!!

There are so many confusing elements and weak plot devices that my enjoyment is somewhat spoiled and my head still spinning...

1) Why did the cops not investigate which window the kid thief fell out of at the beginning, especially as his brother seemed to know which apartment it was when he showed Detective Oh later on?

2) Whats the relevence of the fact that Su-yeon Chae's best friend, Somebody-or-other Kim the medical student, turned out to be the little 'boy' in the yard that Su-yeon made friends with when her abusive father locked her up when she was a little girl? Did Su-yeon know Kim was that 'boy'?

3) Why did Wassername Kim then act so wierdly in the record shop and try to kill Su-yeon with a knife, when up to that point she was so obviously her guardian angel - even if she was the psycho responsible for the grisly boyfriend murders (which she wasn't)? Why would she want to kill her, and why so publicly?

4) Why on earth did Su-yeon leave the keys to the grisly apartment and the incimimating button (a very weak plot device) in the desk in Detective Cho's apartment? Or was it her apartment? The editing of the sequence from when he was viewing the video tape of her didn't suggest that he went over to her place! Was this a tape made by the obsessed artist with the hidden cameras in her apartment, or one Cho had made when she stayed at his place? I'm confused - I think I need to watch this film yet again, and not eat my dinner at the same time!

5) What was so outstandingly significant and incriminating about the photo that Detective Oh hid in the stereo just before he died whilst kebab'd, and that made Cho rush over to the woodland retreat?

6) And what was Su-yeon Chae’s motive for killing her ex-boyfriends, chopping them up into bits, and re-arranging the body parts, then dumping them in public places, in the first place? Apart from the fact that she's a psycho that is!

My god, I thought it was just me who didn't understand what the hell this movie was about! These are all excellent points!! I really wanted to like this movie, but it simply didn't explain anything at all, and I was left completely in the dark. I appreciate it when filmmakers treat their audience with intelligence and respect, but this movie was 'subtle' to the point of incomprehension.

I got an early inkling the film was going to fall apart when the lead detective discovered those hidden cameras in the victim's apartment. I didn't actually know they were cameras until a couple of scenes later, when someone mentioned them, which explained why there were sudden flashbacks to an earlier interrogation sequence when the detective uncovered the cameras. None of this made sense at the time, which left me floundering for quite some time afterwards. And then all the other things which Martianrobot mentioned began to occur, and I (quite literally) lost the plot!!