NYAFF REVIEW: ‘The Priests’ follows horror rulebook with middling results
The Priests, which is screening this week at the New York Asian Film Festival, struggles to spin a tale that is engaging and informative. The acting isn’t bad, and the writing can be interesting. But the overall effect is a let down, and the film’s director, Jang Jae-hyun, relies too much on Hollywood cliches.
The story, set in Seoul, South Korea, centers on a young deacon (Kang Dang-won) who comes to the aid of an older priest (Kim Yun-seok) to exorcise a demon from a young girl (Park So-dam) in an apartment complex. This premise should sound familiar because many other exorcism movies follow the same rubric.
In the beginning of the dramatic story, there is some interesting exposition involving the young deacon, who is in the seminary training to be a priest. He’s plucked from his classes and told of his new assignment. Of course, he has reservations and doesn’t quite know what he’s getting himself into. However, as his superior said in the initial request, helping with the case will get him out of choir practice.
The older priest is nearing the end of his work with the young girl, but there are still mountains to climb in solving the case. For starters, there is a great deal of skepticism over the motivations behind this older priest and his handling of the situation. Another concern is the need for the deacon to attain a live pig to transfer the demon from the girl to the animal. There are also some subplots involving shamanism, the police and two other priests who got into a car accident.
It’s not that the plot of The Priests is difficult to follow. It’s that the plot is not terribly interesting, and the film doesn’t know whether it’s a horror flick, a dramatic character study or a dark, dark comedy. This last one is probably the weakest of the three, but it is surprising how many peculiar laughs are achieved early in the film when the script is letting the audience know who these two men are and what their mission will be.
Of the actors, Yun-seok is not given enough material for the audience to fully understand his character’s past and reasons for this unique line of work. Dong-won’s character receives the most subtext, and the actor is able to portray nervousness and naïveté in a believable manner.
The best attribute of an otherwise forgettable film is the atmosphere of Seoul. The city doesn’t quite achieve character status, but the nighttime skyline, crowded hallways in the apartment complex and stately religious buildings are nicely shot by the director and crew. This doesn’t add up to a watchable movie, but it smooths the passage to the inevitable end.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Priests will screen at the New York Asian Film Festival Thursday, June 23 at 9 p.m. at the Walter Reader Theater at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Click here for more information.
- The Priests
- In Korean with English subtitles
- 2015
- Written and directed by Jang Jae-hyun
- Starring Kim Yun-seok, Kang Dong-won and Park So-dam
- Running time: 103 minutes
- Rating:
