Without much expectations I watched ‘The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion’ during one of my rest days last month. It was one of those ungodly hours when I can spend lots of time by myself and eventually I ended up watching a movie or two.

Anyway, the movie started slow, but I’m a fan of surprises and also bad ass female protagonists so I personally enjoyed this movie. I want you guys to watch something new like this one and surprise yourself to, so for this post, I’ll tell you more why you should watch it!

The Characters

Kim Da Mi as Ja Yoon

Jo Min Soo as Dr. Baek

Choi Woo Sik as Nobleman

Park Hee Soon as Mr. Choi

Go Min Si as Myung Hee

Choi Jung Woo as Teacher Goo

Oh Mi Hee as Teacher Goo’s wife

Da Eun as Girl with long hair

Kim Byeong Ok as Police Officer Do

The Story

Ja Yoon (Kim Da Mi) escaped a government facility that conducted experiments on kids 10 years ago. She gets taken in by an elderly couple when they find her at the field and they raise her like their own though Ja Yoon doesn’t have any memory of her past or even her name.

Ja Yoon grows up bright, loving and very reliable. She excels in many things–at school, physically, at home, maybe in everything. Her high school life is at its peak at the country side and with the persuasion of her friend, she gets the guts to join a nationally televised audition program to win the top prize and help out her family that’s currently struggling.

But then after appearing on the program, strange people start appearing in her life. There’s someone who’s called ‘Nobleman’ who constantly appears in front of her from time to time. There’s also Dr. Baek and Mr. Choi who have been searching for her since she disappeared 10 years ago.

Her once ordinary life suddenly turns into one chaotic mess because of them, where she has to choose to run away from them or face them.

Can Ja Yoon’s life return to normal? How is she going to face them? Have they been part of her lost memories all along? Will she even ever recover her memories back or will she continue living in the dark?

What is Ja Yoon’s fate?

Review:

Honestly, I thought that the beginning of the movie was vague and boring. It tends to conceal some things that happened to Ja Yoon in the past though it gives you a background that something ‘horrible’ was done to her at the laboratory that she plans a desperate escape from her captors.

You won’t really notice anything odd on the sequence for the first arch as it depicts Ja Yoon’s very ordinary life in the countryside together with her adoptive parents. They love her like their own child. Ja Yoon also has a best friend she can count on and laugh with. She lives in a farm faraway from the noise and pollution.

But then, she gets persuaded by her best friend to join an audition that will be televised for everyone to see and she shows an incredible talent that later reveals her identity to those who have been long hunting for her since she escaped. That’s when the thrilling part builds up.

As soon as ‘Nobleman’ appears right in front of her and talks to her as if he knew her from a long time ago shakes her up, to the point Ja Yoon cries in stupefaction. Nobleman is chased away, but strange people continue to lurk around her from then on.

Ja Yoon appears to be frail compared to those strange people combined. They seemed to be very strong, ruthless and scary that the innocent Ja Yoon is easily frightened. Yet, this second arc of the film brings me into a realization that there’s something there behind layers of masks.

I’d remember the title too and ask myself ‘so, when will I get a glimpse of the witch?’. I know in my head that Ja Yoon is the witch, but at least 3/4 of the film is dedicated to conceal the truth and confuse the viewer. They try to portray Ja Yoon as an innocent high school student who probably never hurt a fly her entire life. That it was a total shocker when she beat up all the bad guys and then took off her mask. They were trying to kill her when in an unexpected turn of events–just as when they think she’ll eventually die–she returns a sick smile and then the action starts. Ja Yoon becomes unstoppable and unforgiving. Like she literally dedicated her whole life preparing for the very moment she comes face to face again with those enemies from her past.

Seeing that 180 degree change from a wide-eyed innocent girl made me think ‘whoa’ how is she able to pull off a two-faced character. I thought it’s sick how bipolar Ja Yoon is but then I get flashbacks of how she really thought of the past ten years and realized Ja Yoon has it all planned out and somehow she gets the ending she wants for Part 1 though her main issue still has no concrete solution.

Those are my thoughts for the whole narrative.

I’m so much in awe of the slow but perfect build up and the sick twist that I want to give the movie a slow clap for being so awesome with how the plot was constructed despite the story being crammed with many scenes though the movie is only two hours; it’s overkill but you will get more than what you’re asking for as soon as you reach the final 1/4 of the movie.

Additionally, I’m still in awe with Kim Da Mi’s performance. She looks sweet and innocent as the country bumpkin Ja Yoon, but then looks like bloody murderer in the body of a small kid as the bad ass female protagonist who is on a mission to annihilate all of her enemies. Drama or action you get the best out from her. With this movie, she’s going to give you the biggest surprise no matter how much I spoil it, I tell you.

I also dedicate my special mention to Choi Woo Sik, since I’ve only ever watched him in dramas and though he’s cute, his character doesn’t really receive enough highlight or layer that he barely stayed in my mind. But with this movie, I think as a childhood acquaintance and as a villain of the extraordinary female high school student that has the strength like Superman and the evil brain of a sick anti-hero (in a way), he pretty much got his spotlight. I think it made him more charming that he smirks and stays the villain in the end.

Over all, I wanna say that the film stayed true to its element though the climax didn’t build up until later in the narrative. It’s a frustrating build up but it slowly told me the story of how Ja Yoon came to be and that made it even more intricately beautiful with even the littlest detail. Also, the shots were beautiful. The fighting scenes, though grotesque and violent, were thrilling and well executed. The perfect plot and the amazing characters truly nailed and I think it deserves the many recognition it got.

Rating:

Rating this film, I’m giving it 4.7 out of 5. Not a perfect but nearly perfect score. I think it’s a good and remarkable movie that defied many cliches in a film. The only con I see is the slow build up. Still, the pros are a lot more than the cons, so I want to recommend this to everyone, but please be reminded I think it’s best not to watch this with children since it has graphic violence during the fight scenes.

More snaps I took from the film trailer:

(c) snapshots taken by THE KOREAN LASS (2019)