Asian Film Festival of Dallas 2009 - ‘Hansel and Gretel’

Written and directed by Yim Pil-sung—whose claustrophobic 2005 outing ANTARCTIC JOURNAL served up evidence of a promising talent—HANSEL AND GRETEL begins by introducing us to kind-hearted father-to-be Eun-soo (brilliantly essayed by handsome up-and-comer Cheon Jeong-myeong). Having skidded off the motorway on the way to visit his hospitalized mother, our leading man wakes up in the middle of a woodland and, after following a path through the forest, finds a desolate mansion. There he is introduced to three children (one girl of kindergarten age and her sister and brother, who both look to be in their early teens) and their painfully polite “parents,” who insist on cooking him a sumptuous feast and preparing a bed for the night. However, come the next morning, Eun-soo finds that he has been a left a short note from “Mom and Dad” asking that he take care of the kids for the next week (it seems the two elders have had to make a sudden, emergency trip into town).

With some of the most detailed art direction you will ever see, HANSEL AND GRETEL serves as a dark, creepy modern fairytale.

Information from the festival's website