Netflix has continued to reign supreme in producing quality Korean movies and K-Dramas as of late. With stellar casts, captivating untold stories, plus a combination of powerful directors and writers, it is no surprise that Korean media continues to gain traction.
Netflix’s latest mental thriller Revelations is truly a must-see for fans of criminal stories as Director Yeon Sang Ho keeps us on edge with this suspenseful plot. The film follows the intersecting paths of a pastor (Ryu Jun Yeol) who believes he has received a divine revelation about a criminal, which leads to the Pastor becoming a murderer in the process. However, a detective (Shin Hyun Bin) haunted by visions of her dead sister, who was killed by the hands of the same criminal, investigates a new disappearance case and encounters the pastor every step of the way.
The casting was well done from start to finish – each person felt believable and absolutely poured their emotions into their parts. Ryu Jun Yeol’s character Min Chan battles with faith, ethics, and the evil temptations of humanity, which shake his moral ground. From his wife’s adultery to his dismissal to work at a mecca church, it seems many things were paved against him. However, through his divine revelation, he believes these obstacles became leverage that would lead him closer to God’s will and path as he tries to murder Kwon Yang Rae (Shin Min Jae).
Ryu Jun Yeol perfectly mirrors Pastor Min Chan’s insanity inside and out and his many tearful scenes and struggles with self-composure draw us into his slow descent into mental breakdown. The way the character paths intertwine is well done and also makes it pitiful to see the pastor crumble this way. Instead of fate playing its part, it appears that even more things were against the pastor than we imagined that drove him to this maddened state.
Shin Hyun Bin masterfully plays her role of the anxiety-driven detective Yeon Hee. The visions she sees are quite scary, realistic and send chills down the viewer’s spine every time she has panic attacks. They seem to come and go with the worst timing and mimic these internal struggles realistically. She truly battles with herself while maintaining a good image as a detective first. With little emotion and empty gazes, Shin Hyun Bin expresses the depression and lost sense of the troubled detective perfectly.
In the end, Yeon Hee finds closure in various ways through her enemies. Although it isn’t a common revenge scheme viewers find satisfaction in through other crime stories, it helps us feel hopeful for her character’s ending. She, too, could have descended into despair as the Pastor has, but she manages to “look at the things she can control and see” and make critical decisions.
The pacing is great, yet the story feels like it could’ve absolutely been fleshed out into a drama series. The story was balanced, enhanced with the limited scoring, and laid out nicely despite us wanting more from it. Perhaps it is just the innate ability of cunning detectives, but some clues seemed put together out of thin air that could make viewers wonder how Yeon Hee put two and two together so easily. Often, some clues are handed to her as well, but this is a story of divine revelations and interventions, so it could be the satirical point of it all. Is some divine power really guiding us?
Revelations doesn’t keep viewers in the dark about mental illness and highlights both sides of each person’s story. Pareidolia is explained as a psychological phenomenon where the brain interprets random stimuli as having meaning, and is used to question if the criminal really a criminal by choice or was his horrific and abusive childhood what caused the triggers to lead him down this path? The psychiatrist defending the criminal’s case himself even says, “He is not the devil, he is just a broken person.” Can someone break people down so much that they will dig their own graves and go against morality? The theory is parallel to the pastor’s circumstances after all.
Overall, Revelations was an excellent watch and worthy of adding to your Netflix binge list. If you’re looking for a psychological thriller that isn’t littered with gore and has you questioning perspectives and characters, it is a perfect movie. It isn’t a story entirely new to American media, but it is told well, differently, and provokes conversation about the storyline. (9/10)
>> Netflix Sets March Release for ‘Revelations,’ Alfonso Cuarón-Backed Korean Thriller
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