Hong Mi-ju (Hyeon-a Seong), a music professor, is starting to see some very strange things. Her situation only gets worse when the new housekeeper arrives. But is she the cause of Mi-ju’s waning sanity or is it something more… supernatural?
That’s the best synopsis I can come up with because Cello is all over the place at times. Though the middle act seemed like it was following the same structure as The Omen, it often took off in many other weird and ultimately irrelevant directions. Seriously, this movie switched gears more than a NASCAR driver. That’s not to say movies can’t do that and be successful, but it really doesn’t help your cause when you have absurd exchanges like the following -
“The housekeeper is creepy. Can’t we let her go?”
“Nah. It’s a favour for a friend. Her whole family was killed.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and then she tried to commit suicide.”
“Oh, is that why she doesn’t talk?”
“That, and she also drank acid.”
“I see. I feel much better now about her watching our kids.”
END SCENE.
Okay, I made that last line up, but I shit you not, the rest is true. Maybe it loses something in the translation. There is another large logic leap just before the climax, but in a movie where the help swills down sulphuric cocktails, I guess I’m just supposed to roll with it. Though the narrative made for some very unsettling moments and one superb jump scare, it became irritating early on because you could never really get your bearings. Again, I have no problem with this technique as long as the conclusion justifies it, but Cello’s doesn’t. It’s pretty lame and probably would have been a better film if it ended ten minutes earlier.
The sound design however, is excellent. It elevates, what should have been a mediocre effort, up a notch. The classical music, with of course, strings heavily implemented, serves the film well.
That’s the best synopsis I can come up with because Cello is all over the place at times. Though the middle act seemed like it was following the same structure as The Omen, it often took off in many other weird and ultimately irrelevant directions. Seriously, this movie switched gears more than a NASCAR driver. That’s not to say movies can’t do that and be successful, but it really doesn’t help your cause when you have absurd exchanges like the following -
“The housekeeper is creepy. Can’t we let her go?”“Nah. It’s a favour for a friend. Her whole family was killed.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and then she tried to commit suicide.”
“Oh, is that why she doesn’t talk?”
“That, and she also drank acid.”
“I see. I feel much better now about her watching our kids.”
END SCENE.
Okay, I made that last line up, but I shit you not, the rest is true. Maybe it loses something in the translation. There is another large logic leap just before the climax, but in a movie where the help swills down sulphuric cocktails, I guess I’m just supposed to roll with it. Though the narrative made for some very unsettling moments and one superb jump scare, it became irritating early on because you could never really get your bearings. Again, I have no problem with this technique as long as the conclusion justifies it, but Cello’s doesn’t. It’s pretty lame and probably would have been a better film if it ended ten minutes earlier.
The sound design however, is excellent. It elevates, what should have been a mediocre effort, up a notch. The classical music, with of course, strings heavily implemented, serves the film well.
Cello is strange and off-putting, but overall, terribly uneven.
So, to recap...
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