Featured Audience Ratings

• Emil K

  
  This is extremely ambitious and fascinating South Korean film about a expedition group who find something beyond disturbing from the Antarctica. This breathtaking film held my attention from the dynamic opening images till the elegantly cryptic ending. I have to say that here is a… More
  This is extremely ambitious and fascinating South Korean film about a expedition group who find something beyond disturbing from the Antarctica. This breathtaking film held my attention from the dynamic opening images till the elegantly cryptic ending. I have to say that here is a film with a atmosphere like no other. With effective support from composer Kenji Kawai this film casts a hypnotic and otherworldly mood that feels invitating as it is scary. Director/co-writer Pil-Sung Yim has made terrific job here. This is truly outstanding work of art as a film. Not only he manages to make this film into a one of the most scariest horror films i've ever seen in, but it is also a deeply pilosophical and most of all psychological study about a obsession. If you approach this film as a straightforward thriller then you might be disappointed because it clearly never was meant to be as a one. This is something much more surreal and complex than any ordinary film. It has similiar sinister mood which can be found in the works of David Lynch or Hideo Nakata. While the mood is often very scary and some of the images are stuff from the worst of nightmares, still don't expect to see any creatures or boogeymen here. The true fears and monsters in here lies in the mind of these characters. These monsters are something from within and that makes Antarctic Journal even more scarier to watch. I have always felt that the scariest films deal with darker side of the human mind. Films like Antichrist, Inland Empire or especially David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo are good examples of those kind of films. Now Pil-Sung Yim's Antarctic Journal be mentioned among those great films as a one of the greatest psychological horror films ever made. This is truly mindbending journy into unknown. What puzzles me most is the sad fact that how this film has never gotten the praise or audience it deserves. This remains as a one of the most underrated films in the history of cinema. Yim's film should have much attention than it has had. Something this ambitious, accomplished and original screams to be seen. With the perfect use of New Zealand locations Yim and his crew has achieved a perfect feel of strange melancholic isoaltion and loneliness. The whole expedition team is perfectly cast and especially Ji-Tae Yu and Kang Ho-Song, who are both big names as an actors in South Korea, goes very deep into their characters and pull out something extremely raw and authentic from them. These men are driven by the obsession and grief. They are humans who want to reach answers even if they have to dive into unknown. Emotionally Antarctic Journal becomes very touching within it's last twenty minutes. I still have to mention that it also becomes extremely distubing and scary within those final minutes. As i watched the film going towards it's twisty and complex climax i really understood that this is one of those films i will never forget. Here is a experience that gets under your skin and which haunts your dreams long after the end credits has rolled. Technical feats are outstanding all around also. Chung-hoon Chung's cinematography is pure art and i admire how smoothly all the CGI-effects blended with other images. This film was also co-written by Joon-Ho Bong who is one of the most respected filmmakers in South Korea. Overall i have to say that this film is a near masterpiece. It is one of those real treasures that you run into so rarely these days. I loved every hallucinatory minute of it and while some of the ideas it presented felt overreaching it still held the attention completely. Pil-Sung Yim is a director who likes to challange viewers and forces them to make their own decisions. Antarctic Journal is a must see film and a experience like other.

• Luke B

  
  I'd seen Yim's most recent film, Hansel and Gretel, and was completely blown away by it. Antarctic Journal is the polar opposite of that film in many respects. Hansel and Gretel filled every shot with a vast palette of colors and fantastic detail. Antarctic Journal, though… More
  I'd seen Yim's most recent film, Hansel and Gretel, and was completely blown away by it. Antarctic Journal is the polar opposite of that film in many respects. Hansel and Gretel filled every shot with a vast palette of colors and fantastic detail. Antarctic Journal, though beautiful looking, is pretty much empty and just white. Hansel and Gretel played on the warm cozy setting and here the film uses the open and ferocious landscape to do the same kind of work. It's a creepy well-acted chiller that never quite terrifies. The psychology of the characters is well developed but due to the slow nature of the film, it never grabs the attention. The film feels mostly like constant build up. The few final scenes are very haunting, especially the cold and bleak final shot of Song walking into the distance.

• Christopher B

  
  i really like Kang-ho Song and was hoping to really enjoy this film (I have a soft spot for films that take place in the snow as well), but despite great performances, this one left me cold. Not a terrible movie, but unfortunately nothing really happens and when it does, I found it… More
  i really like Kang-ho Song and was hoping to really enjoy this film (I have a soft spot for films that take place in the snow as well), but despite great performances, this one left me cold. Not a terrible movie, but unfortunately nothing really happens and when it does, I found it hard to care. And the payoff was a letdown too.