This film is being screened as part of the 2022 BFI London Film Festival. You can find all of our coverage of the festival here.
This whodunnit doesn’t seem to know when to call it quits. An orgy of twists, The Woman In The White Car quickly loses its appeal.
★★✰✰✰
It was ambitious for anyone to describe this film as a Korean Fargo. The Coen Brothers had a masterpiece on their hands, one where murder, mystery, humour and whodunnit intertwined in a movie you couldn’t stop watching. It was a hit, pulling in $60 million in the US, on a budget ten percent of that. It won two Oscars in the 1996 ceremony, one for Best Actress, the other for Best Screenplay. The movie also spawned a brilliant TV series. It was a gem.
Cut to The Woman In The White Car directed by Christine Ko, a poor facsimile of the above. This movie is about a policewoman’s (Jung-eun Lee) quest to solve a vicious crime, where nobody seems to be able to tell the truth. But who is the real victim? Is it the bloodied woman, played by former K-pop star Ryeowon Jung, who shows up at a hospital demanding help for her unconscious sister? Or is it the myriad of other characters who randomly appear throughout the film? There’s a lot of “But wait, there’s more!” twists that quickly cause the film to lose its appeal, like an infomercial that won’t end.
The film really, really wants to entice you. It is a shame therefore, that an editor didn’t have a heavier hand. It is unclear what job the editor did have, as the film keeps the camera lens on whomever is speaking at the moment, rather flicking to the reactions on the people listening. This makes for choppy viewing. The cinematography is passable, but bogged down by the aforementioned lack of editing. Filming in desolate, snow-covered settings is a challenge. When coupled with odd transitions, it only takes away from what is shown on screen. The soundtrack is also not of note. This can be more forgiven, as perhaps it was a directorial decision to emphasise isolation.
It would arguably have been interesting to have read the script ahead of time. Did it call for so much fluff to begin with? What was the screenwriter really trying to say with this film? It is a question without an answer. The final denouement lacks bite, after so many twists and turns. A disappointing end to the nearly two hour film.
What is good and what salvages the film from a one-star rating, is that the acting from Jung-eun Lee makes her the most intriguing character on-screen. Her face conveys so much depth and conflict, that one wonders if she’s not a more Machiavellian figure. You want to keep watching her go through the perplex puzzle of finding out whodunnit. You remain invested in her story throughout. It is a wasted opportunity that she didn’t have more to work with in this movie. Perhaps she too could have been nominated for an Oscar, if only the vehicle to get her there was better. You’ll almost wish The Woman In The White Car had just kept driving, and allowed our detective a better case to crack.
The Verdict
Come for the performance from Jung-eun Lee, but be prepared to be dissatisfied with The Woman In The White Car. It is a shame as the film has potential, but the overall directorial decisions hamper the film. If you enjoy whodunnits, even the not so great ones, you might like this film, but you won’t love it. For everyone else, it’s probably best to wait for the next car to come by.
Words by Jordan Cracknell
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