Customer Reviews

301/302 [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It gets kind of macabre at times, but that just adds to its greatness. It's about two women in appartments 301 and 302. One of them lives for cooking and food, the other one's body refuses food of any kind. One adores sex, the other one hates it and regards it as the dirtiest thing ever; they're both obsessed. The movie starts when an officer comes to 301's door saying 302 disappeared. It has intricate psychological goodies mixed in, and the end was pure genius! It also moved me... Rent it! Then you might want to buy it. It's melancholic, but spicy, psychological and macabre!

--- SPOILER WARNING ---

Stop reading right now if you haven't seen this movie yet. Come back and read this once you've seen it. For everyone else:

--- SPOILER WARNING ---

This movie is brilliant. I needn't go into too many specifics, but I feel it incumbent on myself to make a few brief comments here that may change your impression of this movie in case you missed something. Yes, there is a twist ending, but in my experience so far, many people only see the obvious element of this twist. At the end of the movie, you know what happens between these two women. Now, scrap that sentence and try it this way: At the end of the movie, you should know what happens with *this woman*. 301 and 302 are the same woman. The relationship between the two women is a metaphor for the internal conflict between two disparate personalities of one woman. The film is littered with clues that suggest this, but it's still never forced down our throats. It's one of the most well-hidden twists I've ever seen. We see the wall between apartments 301 and 302 get torn down near the beginning. We see 301 sporting a look that's a hybrid of 301 and 302 (short hair, no glasses) at the end (one reviewer here was so close... it's not a hole in the plot, it's a key plot element!). There are more clues. If you missed the twist within the twist, you should consider giving 301/302 another shot. You might be pleasantly surprised.

This movie is about two women with adjoining apartments who are both obsessed with food - one is unable to eat while the other is driven to get her neighbor to enjoy her cooking. Their opposing personalities, lifestyles, and food obsessions are rooted in dark, disturbing histories that are graphically revealed through flashbacks. The story is told as a narrative: it begins slowly with an investigation by a police inspector into disappearance of one of the women. It picks up in the middle and is carried forward along with the investigation to a final, stunning conclusion.

The imagery and characterizations are vivid although I found it too macabre for my taste. Also, the lower production quality was a little distracting, giving it a disjointed B-horror flick type feel. Although I didn't like the movie, others might enjoy and find fascinating the dark psychological elements and the shocking ending. It's definitely a movie that doesn't fade from one's memory.

The plot is transparent and the characters are too extreme. Chul-soo Park clearly isn't a master at story-telling with subtlety: the characters are so over-the-top that the characters lack any connection to reality and the ending becomes obvious early on.

One woman loves to cook and watch/make others eat, the other is an anorexic/bulimic with an abhorrence for sex. Through a series of flashbacks, the disturbing causes for the personalities of each are explained. Yet through this process, all semblance of reality is lost. The characters lack complexity (aside from the twist-within-a-twist explained by another reviewer, but even this is merely cream on a cup of mud pie). They are one-sided, and there is little revealing or insightful about either the characters or the plot.

If you want a cheesy horror-style foreign flick that shows a bit of Korean culture and a glimpse of the husband & wife dynamic, 301/302 may be for you (though I suspect there better Korean films that deliver this). If you want a good twist-within-a-twist, watch Fight Club.

THIS KOREAN MASTERPIECE DEPICTS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO LADIES, THAT EVOLVES FROM ANTAGONISTIC TO HARMONIOUS, ONCE THEY HAVE EXPOSED THEIR PAST RELATIONSHIPS TO EACH OTHER.
THE OUTCOME OF THE STORY IS UNEXPECTED, NEVERTHELESS, SENSIBLE AND REALISTIC!
I AM NOT GOING TO TELL YOU THE MOVIE, YOU WOULD HAVE TO SEE IT YOURSELF TO UNDERSTAND THE TITLE TO THIS REVIEW!!
THIS FILM AND "WHY HAS BODHI-DHARMA LEFT FOR THE EAST", ARE TWO OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT WORKS OF ART IN KOREAN CINEMA!!

301/302 begins as a Coloumbo-esque detective knocks on a lovely woman's door. Why is he there? Because the woman in Apartment 301 was, presumably, the last person to see her neighbor alive. He asks several questions about who her neighbor, in Apartment 302, is and how she, "301", came to know "302". Naturally, as a new resident of the building, she doesn't really know anyone in the building at all. Naturally.

The woman in Apartment 302 is sort of a recluse, in a sense. She goes about her business, but seems, for all intensive purposes, to prefer the confines of her home. "302" is a lithe, almost gaunt, creature in her mid-30's who writes for a living. "301" (Eun-jin Bang) has only just moved into the space across the hall from "302" and immediately began renovating the smallish apartment to suit her immense love of cooking. Much to the chagrin of "302", who get to put up with the noise of reconstruction. Soon after, "301" invites herself into her new neighbor's apartment to become friend's and to share with her some fine cooking. "301" becomes tremendously adventurous with her cooking when she realizes that "302" (Sin-Hye Hwang) refuses even the simplest of dishes, and flat out refuses to eat dishes containing meat. "301" figures she can help her neighbor out with that. She disguises meals in order to trick "302" into eating some pretty exotic stuff, but only after some brief unpleasantness. Both woman soon become freindly with one another and quickly feel compelled to share stories of brutal childhoods and passionless marriages.

And "301" also speculates (while talking with the detective as they both browse around "302"'s apartment) that "302" is sexually repressed because she won't enjoy the great food she cooks and brings her. This is mainly because "301" admittedly places her passion for the culinary arts and her carnal passions in the same category; which she does consciously and is partly the reason she is where she is. "302" dismisses that, but goes on to tell her story of a traumatic childhood that may shed light on the problem "301" desperately wants to remedy using food.

301/302 isn't exactly a thriller, as billed. Made in 1994/5/6 (depending on where you look for info on the film), it probably shocked it's share of viewers. There are a few pretty graphic sex scenes (some tasteful; some not) and some brilliantly shot cooking scenes. The camera gets right in the pots and pans, blenders and colanders. It also gets mighty close to the people's mouths, at a few points, to graphically illustrate "301"'s succulent eats being enjoyed. A major theme I came away with was that a woman (like "301", for instance) shouldn't be taken for granted. Part of "301"'s story, as told to "302" through several well done flashback sequences, is how the life and passions of her marriage were wasted on an ungrateful, selfish husband. But that's not all of her story. The middle third is. almost exclusively. a brilliant and moving account of "301"'s trials and tribulations that surround her cooking; along how it mirrors and, at times, commands her life.

Along with all of this, there's humor (albeit black) sprinkled in to set up the movie's touted ending; which some may see coming fairly early. That shouldn't take away from a well written film. I suspect 301/302 is a hidden gem that many have either overlooked or have never came across. I highly recommend it, in any case.

Do we really need to see reviews in this space in which the reviewers reveal the surprise ending of the film? Jeez.

Anyway, the muddled sound quality is as bad as advertised here. Many times, subtitles appear with absolutely zero sound to be heard.

The US VHS cover box also leads with this as a 'comedy.' Hardly. Unless you like your comedy extra, extra, extra black. There's absolutely nothing comedic about 302's history and the root cause of her pathological dislike of food. 301's tale is lighter, but it's no trip through the daisy field either.

I'll not go into the pros and cons of the movie; if you're curious you can always rent it. But if you're thinking of buying it, the DVD looks as if it had been burned from the VHS tape. There's no sharpness; the colors are blurry.

Also, the subtitles need some work. The only elements that are subtitled are the moments of dialog. This is confusing because if a character thinks to himself or says something off-screen, the lines are not subtitled. Also since one character is a writer, the camera will pick up lots of her writing which is supposed to tell you something about the person. But the written parts are not subtitled either. So the movie's intent and information are not complete when you watch this film.

Before I get to my criticism of the sound quality, let me begin by saying that this is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Its unexpected plot twists take the viewer on an interesting ride.

What really hurt this movie is the sound quality. When movies many non-Anglophone countries have subtitles added, no attention is given to the soundtrack, and this is an excellent example. In many scenes, half the dialogue is inaudible, while every bing of a machine is as loud as anything.

If anyone reading this is interested in a smart movie, I highly recommend seeing 301/302. But I urge no one to buy this version.

301/302 opens with an investigator visiting the residence of 301, a recently divorced woman who is a master chef, after the disappearance of 302 because she is the one who last saw the missing woman. Unperturbed, 301 invites the investigator to have some fried chicken which he states is the best he ever tasted. The film then goes into a series of flashbacks, showing when 301 moved into her apartment neighboring that of 302. A boisterous, talkative woman is a bit put off by the coldness of her neighbor who prefers to not utter a single word than to accept 301's greetings. However, 302's coldness, and her slender figure, entices 301 to get to know her better, so she cooks 302 a mouthwatering meal. Yet, after 301 departs, 302 tosses the food into the fridge and hurries to the restroom to vomit as if the mere sight of food makes her sick. 301 continues to bring 302 food and each dish ends up in the garbage. After discovering this, 301 tries to force 302 to eat the food, but 302 explains that she cannot eat that her body rejects the food. She also cannot engage in sex because of similar reasons. She states that she has a great filth inside of her that does not allow her to enjoy food or sex and she wishes her body would disintegrate.

After learning this, 301 continues to make more food, foods that she terms to be tender, but no matter how well prepared 302 cannot eat the food and always vomits it all up. After awhile the viewer finally learns 302's dark past. However, she is not the only one with a dark past. Why is 301 so insistent that 302 eats her food? It seems that 302 is not the only one with issues.

The two main themes of 301/302 are food and sexuality. 302 is unable to enjoy or indulge in food or sex while 301 is fond of both. However, because of her rocky marriage and later her divorce she is unable to engage in a fulfilling sexual life so she indulges in food instead. Yet she is not just overeating, she is literally engorging herself with food gaining more than half her bodyweight. 302, on the other hand, is wasting away because of her fears associated with food and sex. A complex, dark film, 301/302 is quite a thought provoking film, but one that should definitely not be watched after enjoying a big meal.