Updated Review #2: Muoi: The Legend of a Portrait

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A writer, desperate for a hit, reluctantly accepts an invitation to investigate a local Vietnamese legend about a vengeful ghost inhabiting a painting.

Review: As I mentioned, in one of my ramblings regarding these updated reviews, this film has been my most popular post, and I want to provide a better expression of my feelings on this tale. Upon further viewings, I have to agree with my original assessment: this movie would be a lot scarier if all but two or three scares weren't merely nightmares or hallucinations or whatever they're supposed to be. Despite this, the ideas are good and the scares are decent nonetheless. The plot can be overly convoluted, and there are still a few questions I have regarding what happened, but I think I have a stronger grasp on the film; also, I think I watched a better subbing of the dialogue so that may have contributed. Now let's have a second look at "Muoi: The Legend of a Portrait," shall we.

Let me first explain the legend of Muoi herself in order to establish some context. A hundred years ago in Vietnam, Muoi was an extremely beautiful woman, but was a commoner or something along those lines (wasn't everyone?). A painter, of some prestige it would seem, fell in love with Muoi even though he was already engaged to some bitch. In all fairness, I can't really blame the bitch for being mad that her fiance basically cheated on her. The painter had begun work on a portrait of Muoi, but did not finish it for some unknown reason...I guess he had to return to the bitch? Learning of this, the bitch spreads rumors that Muoi is bewitching men--I'd be kind of flattered if someone said my beauty was great enough to bewitch, but that's me. Seeing how this was lame and pointless, the bitch gets random flunkies to break Muoi's leg and the bitch personally pours acid on her face. Because no one ever talks to each other in movies, the painter thinks Muoi left him and gives up on her. Crippled, disfigured, and losing her love, Muoi chooses to hangs herself, magically knowing she will come back as a vengeful spirit (if you strike me down I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine). Muoi then seeks out revenge against the people that harmed her until the bitch seeks the help of monks. The painter lures the spirit of Muoi into the open, promising to finish the portrait he started, stalling long enough for the monks to corner and bind her spirit within the portrait--held at bay with a magic spike--hey, I don't know. Eventually, during WWII, a Japanese officer unleashes Muoi and no one knows anything beyond that point. The present day story is that Muoi will seek revenge for you if you ask, but she requires a human sacrifice, of sorts, with the details a little sketchy. And that is the legend of the portrait.

As for the main story, it involves a writer in Korea, named Yoon-hee, who has had one major success in which she wrote about her friends and divulged personal information about their lives while exaggerating certain aspects. More precisely, Yoon-hee sold out her best friend, Seo-yeon, describing her as a slut among other not so pleasant claims. Yoon-hee believes Seo-yeon has not read her book but is still reluctant to accept her help with the next book, using Muoi as the inspiration. Seo-yeon lives a lavish life in Vietnam and appears to wholeheartedly welcome Yoon-hee to stay with her and allow Yoon-hee to take whatever amount of time she needs to investigate and gather information about the Muoi legend. Almost immediately, Yoon-hee sees horrible visions of Muoi, ghosts, and the idea of Seo-yeon hurting her. The movie is never clear if these are hallucinations brought on due to Muoi or Yoon-hee's own guilt. This fact bothers me, because that makes most of the scares not even real. Plus, there's the cliched dream within a dream scare tactic which felt extra weak here; hell, one of the dreams actually manages to cancel out another scare, because Yoon-hee wakes up and it's an early scene! Oh come on! Obviously the audience realizes Seo-yeon knows about the book talking shit, but for some reason Yoon-hee is willfully ignorant or in denial or something; she completely ignores signs and moments of controlled outrage from Seo-yeon. Honestly, Yoon-hee is a bit of a bitch herself, and you may find yourself cheering on Seo-yeon as she enacts her scheme for revenge.

You see, unbeknownst to Yoon-hee, the reason why Seo-yeon moved to Vietnam was to avoid the betrayal she felt from all her so-called friends. We don't get a lot of backstory on the relationship dynamics, but we are introduced to some douchebags at the start of the film who hate Seo-yeon. Apparently Seo-yeon liked the one guy, but he had a girlfriend or something...it's not clear. This guy arranges for Seo-yeon to meet him in a park where she is greeted with flunkies who beat her up. The guy then appears and tells the flunkies to do what they want with her, which is implied to be rape, as the guy looks on and that girlfriend videotapes it with glee. To make matters worse, Yoon-hee, as her best friend, writes the terrible things about Seo-yeon driving her into a deranged rage resulting in her mental instability and even her hair falling out. At some point Seo-yeon learns about Muoi and plans to use the ghost to seek revenge on her behalf. In essence, you can understand why Seo-yeon is drawn to the legend about Muoi, because their circumstances are similar. But this is where the movie starts to lose me. Like I said in the first review, why is Yoon-hee the focus of the revenge?! I get that they were close friends, but I swear there's more to their relationship than friendship, and there are moments to support this. I mean, come on, Seo-yeon says something about wanting a world with just the two of them and does that whole sharing the earbuds on the MP3 player bit...you're telling me this is all innocent friendship shit you do with your friends too? And you know what, Seo-yeon is rich, good looking, lives in a mansion, appears to have nice friends, gets flirted with casually and seems like a good sport...let the revenge thing go, I'll gladly date you! You're not the Count of Muoi Cristo. Okay, I apologize for that pun...it was both stupid and beyond lame, and I am a total disgrace.

By the end, we learn Seo-yeon bought this particular mansion because it was the current resting place of the Muoi painting. Yoon-hee consults the monks that were guarding Muoi in the past, and they believe stabbing Seo-yeon in the heart will somehow defeat Muoi. While it doesn't make much sense, Seo-yeon painted her own portrait and plans to exchange places with Muoi in a makeshift sacrifice. Yoon-hee does end up stabbing Seo-yeon which is the sacrifice needed in order to unleash Muoi, but apparently she needs a body to act through and, thus, possesses Yoon-hee. As I mentioned in the last review, Muoi coming out of the painting is the best part and looks impressive. The momentum is slightly hindered though because the possessed Yoon-hee decides to wait a few months before seeking revenge. Well damn, Muoi, what were you doing--taking in the sights? Get to work! Finally we see the bitches that messed with Seo-yeon get killed, but I feel they got off a lot easier than Yoon-hee. Seriously, these people are tormented all of two minutes before dying, but Yoon-hee is possessed seemingly forever. The film then ends with Muoi hearing some chick screaming and is going to turn into a superhero or something and save people? Well, at least that's what I got from the ending.

Overall, this is a good movie, but it has a lot of wasted potential. The acting is good from the leads, especially Ye-ryun Cha, who plays Seo-yeon. The mystery is compelling and comes at you in small enough doses to maintain a high level of intrigue. The legend surrounding Muoi is interesting and leaves a lot of room to expand in a sequel (although that is highly unlikely). I do like the joint effort of Korea and Vietnam working together to make this movie, and I always encourage such situations; furthermore, the landscape looks lovely. On the other hand, the scares are good, but would have been significantly better if they were genuinely integral to the plot rather than ambiguously tacked on as dreams to pad out the film. The plot can be overly complicated, and things don't always make sense especially in regards to Yoon-hee as the focus of the revenge. I do recommend this movie, but it's more of a revenge flick with horror elements shoehorned in as dreams at the last minute. Worth a view, for sure, but it helps having someone to explain things since the film itself doesn't present things as clearly.

Notable Moment: I still like the moment when Muoi comes out of the painting best. The noose, quite literally, tying Muoi to the painting as she claws her way out looks great.

Final Rating: 6/10