Cello (film)
Cello (Korean: 첼로) is a 2005 South Korean horror film.
Cello | |
---|---|
Directed by | Lee Woo-cheol |
Produced by | Yun Hyo-seok Kim Sang-chan Jang Yong-seok |
Written by | Jeong Woo-cheol |
Starring | Sung Hyun-ah Park Da-an Jeong Ho-bin |
Music by | Lee Han-na |
Cinematography | Gwon Yeong-cheol |
Edited by | Kim Yong-su |
Distributed by | Tube Entertainment |
Release date | August 18, 2005[1] |
Running time | 94 minutes |
Country | South Korea |
Language | Korean |
Plot
Hong Mi-ju's (Sung Hyun-ah) professor tries to coax her into going to a concert for Kim Tae-yeon's sister. Mi-ju declines both the concert and a job offer. She is confronted by a student who says that because of Mi-ju, her music is for nothing. The student promises revenge. Shaken, Mi-ju drives home and nearly avoids getting into an accident with a truck. At home, she receives a disturbing message on her cell phone.
In her attic, Mi-ju sees her elder, autistic daughter, Yoon-jin. Her husband Jun-ki, her sister-in-law Kyeong-ran, and her younger daughter Yoon-hye are also present; everyone but Yoon-jin appears mute and emotionless. Yoon-jin sings "Happy Birthday" to Mi-ju. The next day, Mi-ju buys a cello for Yoon-jin after Yoon-jin looks at one longingly. Yoon-hye asks Yoon-jin if she can try the cello, but the normally calm Yoon-jin bites her little sister.
As Mi-ju watches the sleeping Yoon-jin, her face suddenly becomes ghastly. A ghost murders Kyeong-ran but the rest of the family does not seem to hear a thing. Yoon-jin gets out of bed and sees Kyeong-ran strangled and dangling at her window. Mi-ju tells her husband the reason why she quit playing the cello is because of her former friend, Kim Tae-yeon. Kim Tae-yeon was a plain girl who struggled to play the cello as good as Mi-ju, and pretended to be happy for her as Mi-ju rose above her. There was a car accident and Tae-yeon was killed while Mi-ju was injured.
Mi-ju later sees Yoon-jin causing Yoon-hye to fall to her death from the balcony. She places her body in the basement and lies to Jun-ki that Yoon-hye went to camp. Jun-ki discovers the truth and accuses Mi-ju of killing their daughter. In the ensuing struggle, Mi-ju pushes her husband, only to find he has been stabbed by a sharp pipe and is dead. She then sees the ghost and whispers Tae-yeon's name.
A flashback reveals what really happened. Tae-yeon, who looks exactly like the student from the beginning; (indeed, the audience is led to believe there really wasn't a student to begin with, but rather Mi-ju hallucinating), was actually the more talented cello player, not Mi-ju. After the humiliation of Tae-yeon being chosen over her, Mi-ju purposely swerves while driving them home and crashes the car. Tae-yeon is thrown and hangs off a cliff. Mi-ju grabs her hand but lets Tae-yeon fall to her death.
In the present, Mi-ju tries to stab Tae-yeon's ghost to stop her from going to Yoon-jin. She then sees that she has stabbed the housekeeper. Believing the cello holds the power to the ghost, Mi-ju beats it as Yoon-jin screams in her room. Mi-ju then sees that the cello is unharmed; instead lies the beaten and bloody body of her daughter, implying she was beating Yoon-jin. Mi-ju feels Tae-yeon forcing her hand to stab Yoon-jin. She resists and stabs herself.
Mi-ju wakes up in the hospital to find that her earlier car accident with the truck was not imaginary, and that the previous events have been part of her coma. Her family members are all safe and sound.
When Mi-ju returns home, she receives the same disturbing message from before. She goes to the attic and finds her family there, the same way she did in the beginning of the movie. They sing "Happy Birthday" to her, and Kyeong-ran gives her the same album. Inside, she finds a scribbled inscription: "This is only the beginning," before the ghostly hands of Kim Tae-yeon grasp her old friend's face.[2]
Cast
- Sung Hyun-ah ... Hong Mi-ju
- Park Da-an ... Kim Tae-yeon
- Jeong Ho-bin ... Jun-ki
- Jin Woo ... Kyung-ran
- Kim Na-woon ... Sun-ae
- Jin Ji-hee ... Yoon-hye
References
- Box-Office Results (2005), Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved on March 19, 2008.
- CELLO (DVD REVIEW)