[yasr_overall_rating]
Based on the mythological “Tiger of Mt. Jang,” where a legendary ghost that mimics humans, a woman takes in a lost girl she finds near the mysterious Mt. Jang and mystifying things begin to happen to her frightened family.
I am easily unnerved by horror films, but what I love about Asian Horror films is the concentration is not on how many times the film can take a cheap shot and make you jump (like most American Horror), but concentrating efforts more on atmosphere and penetrating the viewer’s psyche and letting the horror slowly creep to the surface. You can feel this film on your skin and briefly suffer from the anxiety or lunacy that the cries of a child can cause. Atmosphere is where “The Mimic” best succeeds. What fails is the choppy narrative. The structure is a gist of narrative, the bare bones present but fragile and hanging together by a decayed thread. There are several elements of the narrative that go unexplained, giving this slower paced film a rushed feeling. But don’t let this put you off, “The Mimic” is worth your time on a lazy day.
Hee-yeon (Yum Jung-ah) and Min-ho (Park Hyuk-kwon) are moving to the countryside to get away from the city and to take care of Min-ho’s ailing mother. The couple, particularly Min-ho, is hopeful that it will help his wife move on from the guilt of losing their son 5 years earlier. Hee-yeon carries the essence of melancholia within her. It’s apparent that she is fragile, and only moving through the motions of life, unable to let go of what happened to her son. Min-ho is made of sturdier stuff, but then again it wasn’t his fault that his son is gone. The couple also has a daughter, Jun-hee (Bang Yu-seol) who seems unfazed by her mother’s wavering demeanor.
Things get a bit shook up not long after the family moves into their new home, located near Mt. Jang when a couple of kids venture into the base of the mountain in search for their dog and barely escape whatever creature is hidden within. The location is a known place where people disappear, whispered to be lured and devoured by the Jangsan Tiger. The creature mimics the voices of missing or dead people or creatures with the intent to trick people to follow the voices into the creature’s lair at the base of the mountain. The ruckus with the kids attracts the police and the couple. The police and detectives are kind of blasé towards the whole ordeal. While the police are busy, Hee-yeon notices a little girl in a dirty and tattered dress, hiding in the trees. And after some cajoling, the Little Girl (Shin Rin-a) comes home with Hee-yeon, who takes great care in cleaning the girl up and making her feel safe.
Min-ho is surprised by the girl and is then a bit perturbed when his wife decides to not immediately take her to the police station. Her attachment to the child is swift and unrelenting. It isn’t until strange incidences occur that her binds loosen, but the struggle to detach from the child is present throughout the film, even to the bitter end. And it’s understandable because the child is adorable and pitiful, and any human with a soft heart would be easily fooled by the evil that controls the child. Min-ho knows something isn’t right with the child, his face says it all. He perpetually looks like he wants to kick the girl in the face, just totally sickened by her presence. And once the girl starts crying (which she does a lot) you kind of want to kick her in the face too. There’s a conflicting feeling of wanting to both smother the demon-child but also coddle it. It puts you on edge.
Once Min-ho’s mother goes missing, shit gets real. The police and detectives come out and do nothing, once again. It’s just another missing person, the usual. The girl has also seemed to disappear making Hee-yeon go and search for her in the rain. And in doing this she runs into this blind mystic woman who spills the tea on what’s really going on. And it ain’t pretty. It’s downright demented but easily the best part of the film. Hee-yeon tries to take heed and shake free of the power the child has over her, but you know, she’s weak and apparently a bit thick. And being weak and thick don’t get you very far in life, but apparently does make you the perfect meal for mythical demonic Tigers.
“The Mimic” is nearly satisfactory, but the loose threads are annoying. The film starts out very slow and then is messily rushed. While it’s a pretty bare-bones film, to begin with, I feel like it still could have been shaved down more to make it tighter or perhaps even delicately fleshed out. It’s a soft film, with extremes that don’t come off as powerfully as they should because someone thought it should be jazzed up with a bunch of mirrors and a woman with chains of bells on her house. It’s not a terrible film, but it’s infuriating because you can feel the full potential of it teeming just beneath the surface of the screen.
Available on Blu-ray & Digital HD June 12th
