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This is a film that's fully committed to shamanism and the reality of the spirit world (while at the same time, embracing Christianity, not uncommon in Korea). The various rituals, e.g. The cleansing power of a white horse's blood, and the rules governing the shamans, e.g. Never cremating a body on a rainy day to ensure a peaceful afterlife, are things taken as fact by all characters, without a hint of a doubt or cynicism. The film puts you in this world and then lets you feel the horror of messing with powerful, unknown forces, as opposed to a standard horror film that would be full of grisly violence. I liked that about it.

There is also something deeply meaningful in the film being centered on a horror in real life for Koreans: the Japanese colonial period, which lasted from 1910 to 1945, in which Koreans endured forced labor, brutal gang rapes in the girls/women deemed "comfort" for their soldiers, and its culture being suppressed. While those things aren't directly referenced by the film, they wouldn't need to be to Korean audiences; as with the grave in this film, they're beneath the surface but far from settled. We get a small but meaningful hint of the sensitivity early on, when the Korean shaman is confused for being Japanese by a flight attendant, and a little perturbed, corrects her.

In a sense, this is also a film about liminal spaces - between past and present, spiritual and material - and perhaps it's fitting that it takes place near the border between North and South Korea. The film takes its time establishing the characters before getting them into an encounter with one unsettled spirit out at this site, a grandfather angry with his descendants over his burial. We learn that he brought shame upon the family and betrayed his country by joining the Japanese when they invaded. It eventually segues to another encounter, this time with a giant samurai spirit who's in place to guard the site. Why? Because the Japanese are said to have buried spikes throughout Korea to cut off its spiritual energy during the colonial period, and this was one such place. That may be a little hard to decode for foreign audiences, but the reference is undoubtedly clear to Koreans, and while the historical validity of the belief is debated, the national trauma is certainly real.

It's certainly a well-made film, and the attention to detail in the shaman rituals and dances apparently made them pretty authentic, so much so that the Kim Go-eun was concerned she might be summoning forth supernatural forces while making the film. You almost get two films in one, given how one ghostly encounter moves along to the next. I liked the visuals of each, but it became a bit of a detractor, as the film seemed a little long at 134 minutes. Worth seeing, and on another night I might've rated it a little higher.

Love the absurdity in this short film, including the duck from a painting being brought to life by the scientist, a guy being wrapped up and passing for an ancient mummy, and how when his coffin is being dragged along the road, necessitating a stop, the guys hauling him bonk him over the head upon finding he's alive. The absolutely wild nitrate degradation that mars the existing print somehow goes with the energy of it. I also liked the sweetness in the couple stealthily kissing on the sofa. Definitely worth spending 11 minutes, and it's too bad the Ebony Film Company didn't survive for long.

The dog in this is as good an actor as he is adorable, and I appreciated the concept behind questioning whether a dog should be put down for biting multiple people (apparently based on a real case), but what was built around it was too much of a mess to like it. There were lots of attempts to inject comedy and sexual content into the story to make something light and playful out of it, but it was rarely funny, and often creepy. That began right out of the chute when the lawyer's boss talked to her about his favorite blowjob techniques and things like a finger in the butt, the latter of which would be referred to again later relative to the dog. It's just not something you'd think you'd see going into a film about a good boy who's standing trial.

The same thing could be said about the sexually curious 12-year-old's flirtation with the lawyer which includes him referring to something she says as going into his "wank bank" and sleeping over with her because of his abusive parents. Maybe there was a parallel intended between her protective instincts for the boy and how she defends the dog, but it wasn't developed at all. Instead we see him drop by after she's had sex with the animal trainer, where he makes casual conversation with the adults who are still in bed, during which he assumes the man is into bestiality. During an internet uproar over the trial, we also get pictures made by trolls of the lawyer engaged in sex with dogs. It's as if the film wanted to avoid being a tame Hallmark kind of movie and tried to spice things up, but went overboard.

As for the protagonists, the lawyer does things like punch a guy in the face for shouting at her, and says something convoluted about women being closer to dogs because of society, insulting a Portuguese immigrant in the process. Meanwhile, the dog himself has bitten multiple people, including the immigrant in the face which leaves a lifelong scar, and viciously attacks the lawyer in the woods. The film plays up how the prosecution is preying on public fear to stoke this inhuman response (maybe trying to establish a parallel with conservative politicians of the day), but they have a case, especially when you consider instances where people are killed in dog attacks (which the film avoids thinking about).

There is something touching about trying to understand another living creature and being compassionate toward it, but I wish that had been pursued in more meaningful ways. Tonally this is all over the map and its silliness is completely inconsistent with what it tries to do at the end. Even if you're drawn to dog movies, this is one to skip.