This movie features a number of scenes where fluorescent lights flicker rapidly and repeatedly, usually either to highlight a character's dual nature or to set up a scare, but it often creates a strobe effect that could be a problem for anyone who is photosensitive.
The Red Shoes explores the damaging power of obsessive love through a vengeful ghost story centered around a pair of haunted shoes. As other reviewers have mentioned, these shoes are dark pink -- at least to Western eyes. In many Asian cultures they'd actually be considered a light shade of red. Every time a character sees the shoes they seem at least momentarily overcome. Even the male characters can't help staring, though they don't seem to be compelled to possess the shoes to the same great extent that the female characters do. It's weird how every female character who puts on the shoes doesn't have any trouble getting them to fit. Even the little girl is able to slide around in them without tripping. I'll chalk that one up to supernatural shenanigans. Also, while the high heeled pumps would definitely not be standard wear for a classical ballet dancer, for the modern dance that was popular at the time of this tale's backstory they'd be close enough to hand-wave.
After a cold open, the story begins with Sun-Jae, who appears to be a long-suffering wife and mother to a husband who has lost interest in her and a daddy's girl daughter who takes her for granted. And she is both of those things, but she's also got some attachment issues. After she discovers her husband cheating on her with a brazen hussy who dared to put on her blue high heels and wear them during sex while her husband told her they looked better on her than on his wife (the gall!), she leaves their nice house with her daughter and moves into a dump of a highrise apartment. So far, so Dark Water.
Sun-Jae is planning to open her own eye clinic, and has hired a hot interior designer to help her fix the place up. Sparks fly between them. Sun-Jae also has a spunky best friend Mi-Hee and it seems like the set up to a rom com is happening, until Sun-Jae spots the red shoes on the subway. Soon everybody is fighting. Sun-Jae is fighting with her little daughter Tae-Su over ownership of the shoes. Mi-Hee is stealing the shoes from Tae-Su. Sun-Jae and her new boyfriend In-Cheol are arguing about their DTR. The old bag lady who lives in the basement is screaming and running away every time she sees Sun-Jae coming. Also, ghosts start appearing, usually in that way where they're staring balefully at a character who's not looking in their direction.
Eventually the gore comes, and it comes with giallo vividness. The cinematography is striking, with the scenery around the red often desaturated to make the red stand out more. There's the research and recriminations section of the movie, which is a defining trope of the genre. The viewer might start wondering how likely it is that so many people and places central to the background mystery happen to be right there in that building, but then the twist happens and you realize that it's not a coincidence at all. I won't spoil the twist except to say that it's less about the shoes than it is about the people. The movie is a little skimpy on scares but it's big on style and it's a compelling take on how obsessive love can drive a person mad.
The Red Shoes explores the damaging power of obsessive love through a vengeful ghost story centered around a pair of haunted shoes. As other reviewers have mentioned, these shoes are dark pink -- at least to Western eyes. In many Asian cultures they'd actually be considered a light shade of red. Every time a character sees the shoes they seem at least momentarily overcome. Even the male characters can't help staring, though they don't seem to be compelled to possess the shoes to the same great extent that the female characters do. It's weird how every female character who puts on the shoes doesn't have any trouble getting them to fit. Even the little girl is able to slide around in them without tripping. I'll chalk that one up to supernatural shenanigans. Also, while the high heeled pumps would definitely not be standard wear for a classical ballet dancer, for the modern dance that was popular at the time of this tale's backstory they'd be close enough to hand-wave.
After a cold open, the story begins with Sun-Jae, who appears to be a long-suffering wife and mother to a husband who has lost interest in her and a daddy's girl daughter who takes her for granted. And she is both of those things, but she's also got some attachment issues. After she discovers her husband cheating on her with a brazen hussy who dared to put on her blue high heels and wear them during sex while her husband told her they looked better on her than on his wife (the gall!), she leaves their nice house with her daughter and moves into a dump of a highrise apartment. So far, so Dark Water.
Sun-Jae is planning to open her own eye clinic, and has hired a hot interior designer to help her fix the place up. Sparks fly between them. Sun-Jae also has a spunky best friend Mi-Hee and it seems like the set up to a rom com is happening, until Sun-Jae spots the red shoes on the subway. Soon everybody is fighting. Sun-Jae is fighting with her little daughter Tae-Su over ownership of the shoes. Mi-Hee is stealing the shoes from Tae-Su. Sun-Jae and her new boyfriend In-Cheol are arguing about their DTR. The old bag lady who lives in the basement is screaming and running away every time she sees Sun-Jae coming. Also, ghosts start appearing, usually in that way where they're staring balefully at a character who's not looking in their direction.
Eventually the gore comes, and it comes with giallo vividness. The cinematography is striking, with the scenery around the red often desaturated to make the red stand out more. There's the research and recriminations section of the movie, which is a defining trope of the genre. The viewer might start wondering how likely it is that so many people and places central to the background mystery happen to be right there in that building, but then the twist happens and you realize that it's not a coincidence at all. I won't spoil the twist except to say that it's less about the shoes than it is about the people. The movie is a little skimpy on scares but it's big on style and it's a compelling take on how obsessive love can drive a person mad.