Overview of The Wailing

‘The Wailing’ is a horror-comedy thriller film directed by Na Hong-jin which tells the story of a policeman named Jong-goo and the village he lives in. Jong-goo is a man who is caught up in the land of miseries and mysteries after the arrival of an old Japanese man with his dog.

The strange plague which came along with the old man took the peace and lives of people living in the village, including Jong-goo and his family. In the movie, Na Hong-jin brilliantly brings out three mysterious characters, an old man, a woman dressed in white and a shaman to make his audience think about the reality and the ambiguity of life. Starring Kwak Do-won, Jun Kunimura, Hwang Jung-min and Chun Woo-hee. ‘The Wailing’ was released on 12 May 2016.

Profile

• Movie: ‘The Wailing’
• Genre: Horror, Thriller
• Director: Na Hong-jin
• Writer: Na Hong-jin
• Producers: Suh Dong-hyun, Kim Ho-sung
• Production Companies: Side Mirror, Fox International Productions
• Release Date: 12 May 2016
• Running Time: 156 minutes
• Distributor: 20th Century Fox
• Language: Korean
• Country: South Korea

Cast

Main

• Kwak Do-won as Jong-goo
• Hwang Jung-min as Il-gwang
• Jun Kunimura as Japanese man
• Chun Woo-hee as Moo-Myeong
• Kim Hwan-hee as Hyo-jin

Supporting

• Jang So-yeon as Wife
• Heo Jin as Mother-in-law
• Jo Han-chul as Detective 1
• Son Kang-kuk as Oh Sung-bok
• Kim Do-yoon as Yang Yi-sam

Synopsis

A mysterious plague possesses a whole village after the arrival of an old Japanese man and his dog. The people infected by the plague turn wild with their bodies covered with rashes and kill their families. Jong-goo, a policeman, starts his investigation into the disaster haunting his village. As he dives into his investigation, a mysterious woman Moo-myeong dressed in white appears for his aid. She describes the crime scenes which happen in the village and accuses the Japanese man of troubling the village and the villagers.

One day a hunter who went to the forest tells Jong-goo that he saw the old man in the forest with his eyes glowing red feasting on the corpse of a deer. After all these incidents, obsessed with the thought of the old man, Jong-goo goes to see the old man at his house in the forest with his nephew, who is good at the Japanese language. From a thorough examination of the house, Jong-goo finds the photographs and some of the belongings of the butchered people in the village from the sanctum.

When Jong-goo reaches home, he figures out his daughter Hyo-jin, is infected with the disease. Seeing the fate caused to his daughter, he destroys the sanctum in the old man’s house and orders him to run away.

One day, Jong-goo’s family sees a bleeding goat hanging on their gate and Jong-goo feels his body is partially paralysed. Leaving Hyo-jin home, his wife and mother-in-law take him to treatment, and when they return, they shockingly discover that the child has murdered their neighbour. Seeing the abnormal and ferocious behaviour of the kid, Jong-goo’s mother-in-law calls a shaman from the city for help.

The shaman is known for his brilliance in exorcising evil spirits. In no time, the shaman earns the trust of Jong-goo’s family and the village. The shaman organises a ritual to cast out the evil spirit from Hyo-jin’s body.

Meanwhile, the old man also starts his ritual at his place. As the shaman’s rituals progress, Hyo-jin experiences severe pain. Seeing his daughter crawling in pain, Jong-goo interrupts the ritual. On the other hand, the old man is also experiencing deadly pain and is almost about to die as a consequence of the shaman’s ritual.

Jong-goo’s interruption of the ritual gives life to the old man and outside his house he encounters Moo-myeong. One day, Jong-goo and his friends go in search of the old man, but the old man sends the reawakened corpse of a man to attack them to run away. However, the old man tricks Jong-goo and his friends by throwing his body on the windshield of the car which Jang-goo and his friends travel back and makes them believe that he is dead.

Relieved by the death of the old man, they throw the body off a cliff. From a distance, all these happenings are watched by Moo-myeong. After this incident, Jang-goo watches his daughter slowly recover.

The shaman plans to leave the village when he fails to complete his ritual and when he meets Moo-myeong in person blood gushes out of his nose and mouth. However, his retreat fails when a bunch of insects attacks his car while he drives. The shaman calls Jang-goo and warns the old man is only fighting against Moo-myeong and she is the real evil.

Jang-goo wakes up from his sleep receives the shaman’s call and discovers his daughter is missing. Frightened, Jang-goo goes in search of Hyo-jin and runs into Moo-myeong. She tells Jang-goo that the old man has escaped by faking his death and lending ears to the words of the shaman will cause trouble.

She tells Jang-goo not to return to his house before the rooster’s third craw and warns him that his family will get slaughtered if he returns home before that. Jang-goo suspects Moo-myeong for a while because he notices his daughter’s hairpin on her hair. He runs to his house to save his family as the shaman suggested to him.

At Jang-goo’s house, Hyo-jin kills her mother and grandmother and she attacks Jang-goo when he returns home. The dying Jang-goo recalls his good old days with his daughter and his promise to protect her.

The shaman arrives at the crime scene and takes photographs of the dying Jang-goo and his dead wife and mother-in-law while Hyo-jin sits in a daze.
At the end of the film, Yang I-sam, Jang-goo’s Japanese-speaking nephew goes to see the old man in his cave near his house. He arms himself with a knife and a cross to confront him. He curses him for being an evil spirit. The old man takes photos of Yang I-sam and reveals his demonic form with red eyes and tells him he is not going to let Yang I-sam live peacefully.

Besides this ending, the film has an alternate ending which is deleted. In the deleted scene, the old man leaves with the shaman in a can and Moo-myeong witnesses their departure from behind as the car moves away.

Theme

‘The Wailing’ ends with a bunch of unanswered questions. The title ‘The Wailing’ can be interpreted as the wailing of people infected by the plague or the wailing of family members who are slaughtered at the hands of their beloved ones or, more specifically, it can also represent the desperate wailing of the policeman, Jang-goo and his daughter Hyo-jin, since the movie mainly revolves around them.

People are unaware of the cause of the plague and why it aims at them and their families. Also, they are confused about whom to rely for rescue and what to believe. In a way, it is the speciality of life. With the touch of horror, supernatural beings and religious rituals, Na Hong-jin is exposing the nature of life to its audience.

People do everything that is possible to save the lives of their loved ones, just like how the father in Jang-goo acted when the shaman told him to return back home to save his family. Jang-goo is suspicious of the shaman. However, he finds it more appealing to do something rather than wait for the third cry of the rooster as instructed by the mysterious Moo-myeong.

Awards

• 37th Blue Dragon Film Award 2016
  Best Director – Na Hong-jin (2016)
  Best Supporting Actor – Jun Kunimura (2016)
  Popularity Award – Jun Kunimura (2016)
  Best Editing – Kim Sun-min (2016)
  Best Music – Jang Yeong-gyoo and Dalpalan (2016)
• Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2016
  Audience Award – ‘The Wailing’ (2016)
  Best of Bucheon Award – Na Hong-jin (2016)
• Fantasia International Film Festival 2016
  Prix AQCC – Na Hong-jin (2016)
• 53rd Grand Bell awards 2016
  Best New Actress – Kim Hwan-hee (2016)
  Best Cinematography – Hong Kyung-pyo (2016)
  Best Recording – Kim Shin-yong (2016)
  Best Lightning – Kim Chang-ho (2016)
  Best Editing – Kim Sun-min (2016)
• 36th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards (2016)
  Top Films of the Year – ‘The Wailing’ (2016)
• Korean Film Actor’s Association Awards 2016
  Top Director Award – Na Hong-jin (2016)
  Top Star Award – Kwak Do-won (2016)
• Korean Film Producers Association Awards 2016
  Best Director – Na Hong-jin (2016)
  Best Cinematography – Hong Kyung-pyo (2016)
  Best Lighting – Kim Chang-ho (2016)
• Sitges Film Festival 2016
  Focus Asia Award – Na Hong-jin (2016)
  Best Cinematography – Hong Kyung-pyo (2016)
• BloodGuts UK Horror Awards 2016
  Best Actor in an International Film – Kwak Do-won (2016)
• Molins de Rei Horror Film Festival 2016
  Special Mention – Hong Kyung-pyo (2016)
• Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival 2016
  Honourable Mention – ‘The Wailing’
• 11th Asian Film Awards 2017
  Best Director – Na Hong-jin (2017)
• KOFRA Film Awards 2017
  Best Film – ‘The Wailing’ (2017)
  Best Director – Na Hong-jin (2017)
• Korea Cable TV Awards 2017
  Cable VOD Grand Prize (Film) – ‘The Wailing’ (2017)
• 53rd Baeksang Arts Awards 2017
  Best Film – ‘The Wailing’ (2017)
• 22nd Chunsa Film Awards 2017
  Best Director – Na Hong-jin (2017)

  

Interesting Facts about The Wailing

1. The Korean name of the movie and the name of the village in the film is Gokseong, and there really exists a real place named Gokseong in Korea.
2. Gokseong in Korean means ‘wail’.
3. ‘The Wailing’ was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.

FAQs

1. In which year is ‘The Wailing’ released?
   The film ‘The Wailing’ was released in 2016.
2. Who is the evil spirit in the movie ‘The Wailing’?
   The mysterious old Japanese man is the evil spirit in the movie.
3. In which genre can the film ‘The Wailing’ be categorised?
   ‘The Wailing’ can be categorised under the horror-thriller genre.
4. What is the Instagram ID of Chun Woo-Hee?
   thousand_wooo