Synopsis
The Call (2020) is a psychological thriller from South Korea, directed by Lee Chung-hyun. The film artfully incorporates elements of time travel, suspense, and horror into a single narrative. As a film which transcends genres, it skillfully balances the intersection between a singular moment’s potential to alter lives over decades while exploring fate, trauma, guilt, and the potent temptation of altering history. This film is a loose adaptation of the British-Puerto Rican film The Caller released in 2011. This South Korean remake puts an innovative spin on the premise by adding cultural depth, emotional intricacy, and captivating suspense.
Two women who are connected through time form the crux of the narrative. Seo-yeon, portrayed by Park Shin-hye, is a contemporary woman (2019) who relocates to her family’s countryside home after her mother becomes gravely ill. Seo-yeon is emotionally detached due to having lost her father, and very solitary until she experiences a series of strange events triggered by an old cordless phone she discovers in the house.
The phone rings, and on the other end is Young-sook, a woman from the same household, but from the year 1999. It takes time for both women to come to terms with the bond that they share across time. In due course of time, however, curiosity transforms into late night conversations, shared secrets, and an improbable bond. Young-sook, played with Jeon Jong-seo, is a peculiar and reclusive woman shackled to the life of an eccentric hermit due to her stepmother who is a Shaman that exercises oppressive control over her believing that she is possessed by malevolent spirits.
While Seo-yeon and Young-sook grow attached to each other, their knowledge about each other’s timelines opens a tantalizing possibility: change the past to shapeshift the future. Desperately wanting to save her father from the fatal accident that was bound to happen two decades later, Seo-yeon urges Young-sook to take action. Young-sook agrees—and the course of Seo-yeon’s life is irrevocably altered. The father she lost is now alive, the family never relocated, which means she spent her childhood in a wealthier and emotionally nourished environment.
Nonetheless, the excitement does not last long. Seo-yeon finds out that Young-sook has a darker side. After the successful rescue of Seo-yeon’s father, Young-sook begins to boldly exert control over the previously stagnant aspects of her life by enacting vengeance on those that wronged her. Her mental instability worsens, developing into full-blown psychopathy, and the household becomes a spatial and temporal battlefield. Now that Young-sook has the power to know certain future events, she starts murdering people around her while using psychic insights to torment and endanger Seo-yeon’s family from the past.
Seo-yeon desperately attempts to stop Young-sook, who relentlessly reworks the past with violent actions, using every countermeasure possible—even those involving the phone line that connects them. Each alteration to the past becomes a new challenge, often resulting in tragic outcomes in the present which forces Seo-yeon to fight the clock and herself to protect her family and unravel the harrowing mental and emotional turmoil. The timeline breaks multiple times, with cascading effects that push Seo-yeon into deeper waters.
The climax is a tense, time-twisting confrontation that pushes Seo-yeon to her limits physically and mentally. Although she does manage to find a way to at least momentarily halt Young-sook’s actions, the film concludes with a haunting revelation that time cannot be truly escaped, and the act of time manipulation brings irrevocable consequences.
Cast & Crew
Park Shin-hye as Seo-yeon
Shin-hye Park, recognized for her roles in dramas like You’re Beautiful and Memories of the Alhambra, gives an emotionally powerful and deeply nuanced performance. As Seo-yeon, she embodies the anguish of grief, the bliss of family restored, and the horror of being stalked by an unseeable force across ages.
Jeon Jong-seo as Young-sook
Jeon Jong-seo first garnered attention for her role in Burning (2018) and gives an unforgettable, spine-chilling performance. She vividly captures the evolution from a lonesome, alienated girl into a ruthless and manipulative sociopath. Her performance single-handedly fuels the film’s tension, and her commanding presence overshadows every scene in which she takes part.
Lee Chung-hyun (Director and Writer)
As both the writer and director, The Call marks Lee Chung-hyun’s bold debut. His skill to create tension and maintain a non-linear narrative flow is remarkable. He succeeds in seamlessly integrating the film’s technical aspects with emotional depth, transforming what would have been a conventional time-travel thriller into a psychologically rich and memorable film.
Cinematography: Jo Young-jik
The film employs a harsh yet engrossing visual language. The cinematography differentiates the timelines with more than just noticeable shifts in lighting and camera framing; they signal transitions. The use of mirrors, windows, and other reflective surfaces serve to reinforce the themes of duality and parallel realities.
Music & Sound Design: Dalpalan
The score reinforces moments of suspense in the narrative without overshadowing the story. As with the emotional and tension peaks, Dalpalan’s sound design (particularly the sharp, sudden phone rings) contributes greatly to the feeling of dread that is central to the film.
IMDb Ratings
With a substantiated reception from critics and audiences alike, The Call holds a solid 7.1/10 rating on IMDb. Its originality and clever manipulation of a time-travel premise were well noted. In particular, Jeon Jong-seo’s performance received immense praise for her multifaceted portrayal of the antagonist, bringing psychological depth and unpredictability to the character.
The film has been praised for its emotional storytelling combined with elements of suspense and science fiction. While The Call is often grouped together with other time-bending thrillers like Frequency and Timecrimes, it is recognized for its distinctive structure and cultural perspective. Some critics have pointed out that the pacing is too fast, especially during the final act where the timeline is filled with rapid twists and reversals, which could be difficult to follow for some viewers.
Notwithstanding the minor criticisms made, The Call is recognized as a remarkable addition to Korean Cinema, particularly for genres such as thrillers and horror, showcasing the continued mastery of Korea.
Conclusion
The Call is a captivating thriller that intricately weaves guilt, trauma, and moral implications into its central time-travel premise. It features powerhouse performances from Park Shin-hye and Jeon Jong-seo, who elevate the film’s core concept of a phone call serving as a means of terror and psychological manipulation. Director Lee Chung-hyun builds an emotionally resonant atmosphere that requires active engagement, but once immersed, rewards viewers with a deep narrative and a lasting impact.
As a high-concept sci-fi thriller, it tackles the deeply human themes of fate and choice, showcasing The Call as an astonishing achievement in Korean genre filmmaking—suspenseful, inventive, and utterly unforgettable.
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