Hidden Face
Even the best laid plans have a tendency to go awry. In “Hidden Face,” we get let on to one person’s plan at a point where it recontextualizes everything we thought we knew up to that point. After that point, we find ourselves looking at the actions of characters in a new light. Good thrillers are like that, and Kim Dae-woo’s thriller is very good.
The first thing we see is a woman’s video to her fiance. Soo-yeon (Cho Yeo-jeong) is on the video, and she is telling Seong-jin (Song Seung-heon) that she is going to Berlin, and is no longer sure what she thinks of their relationship. Soo-yeon is a cellist in the orchestra that Seong-jin is the conductor of. They met overseas, and seem like a good match, but they seem distant when we see flashbacks of them together. In finding a replacement, he auditions a young woman, Mi-joo (Park Ji-hyun), and they have an immediate connection. We see them in bed together. The passion is strong for Mi-joo, even if she feels good about things. At that point, the story doubles back on itself, and we get the reality of who these characters are to one another.
The screenplay is adapted from the 2011 movie, “La Cara Oculta,” written by Hatem Khraiche. I will admit that I haven’t seen it, but given this film’s sense of familiarity with Hitchcock and DePalma, I’m sure it’s probably a movie that the latter admires. There are elements of “Vertigo” and “Rebecca” and “Body Double” in this film, and it’s fascinating to see as this movie goes through its story, and each revelation unveils itself. The film feels like it will be a straightforward erotic thriller, but as we go deeper into the story, we get the sense that each character will have multiple attempts to surprise us with their choices. This is a well-constructed thriller, and a slyly entertaining one.
A film like “Hidden Face” is both very pulpy while also having a sheen of elegance to its craft. There’s nothing sleazy to how it approaches its material, but it isn’t afraid to go over-the-top with it either. This is the fine line a lot of erotic dramas have a hard time walking, but Dae-woo’s film does so effortlessly. It helps that his three leads are all strong in how they build their characters, and the emotional truths of them. “Hidden Face” is not really a new classic in the genre, but it is a solid effort in it.
