BA_Harrison Cellist Mi-ju (Hyeon-a Seong) survives the terrible car crash that claims the life of her best friend Tae-yeon (Da-an Park) but finds herself being haunted by the dead girl's ghost.Why waste your time watching all of the Asian ghost films out there, when you can watch Cello, which sums up the entire genre in one easy hit. Vengeful ghosts, freaky imagery, a dark secret, creepy kids, scary phone calls, supernatural deaths—all the staple ingredients are there, along with an embarrassingly uninspired finale whereby events start all over again, trapping Mi-ju in a never ending cycle of horror (yawn!).Technically the film is hard to fault, the whole package boasting stylish direction, solid performances, lovely cinematography, and excellent music, but thematically it is way too similar to countless other previous Asian ghost movies to be a truly effective and worthwhile addition to the genre. And, of course, there's that sucky ending...

lewiskendell Cello is an atmospheric, emotionally-driven psychological horror/drama from South Korea. It's basically about a woman with traumatic events in her past that come back to haunt her and her family. I call it a horror/drama because it has its frightening moments, but a large part of the movie is devoted to the relationships between the main character, Mi-ju and her autistic daughter, and the past relationship of Mi-ju and her very close friend, Tae-Yeon. I found myself caring a lot more about the characters (and any potential danger to them) in Cello more than I usually do in horror movies, because so much time was devoted to developing them as people and not just kill-fodder. There are so truly horrifying moments in this movie, which gives it a heft and impact that goes beyond just visceral thrills. Cello is a very sad film, and that wouldn't have worked at all without characters that you actually care about. It's not hard to figure out what's going on with the story, as Mi-ju seeming falls prey to either a malevolent ghostly presence or her own crumbling mind, but fortunately the plot throws enough curves to keep even veterans of the genre from being able to predict everything that's going to happen. Put plainly, I liked Cello. It was somewhat different from the recent horror movies I've seen, and undeniably well-made. I recommend it.

LCShackley I used to teach music theory. I flunked a student one time and his mother went ballistic, sending slanderous letters about me to the dean, the president, and eventually even the board of the school. Well, let me just say that her treatment of me was mild in comparison to what happens to the teacher in THIS trashy horror flick.Well, at least that's what we're led to believe at the beginning. The offended student is getting revenge on her snooty teacher. But then other weird things start happening. We see the same scenes repeated, but with different characters and outcomes. We have odd supernatural sounds and horrific nightmares. We have a bizarre mute housekeeper who creeps everyone out, but who stays because the husband feels sorry for her. (Would you keep a housekeeper who had "swallowed acid" if you had two young girls in the house?) There are deaths (including two animals and a small child), suicides, and an autistic child who loves the cello.This film can't seem to decide what it's really about. Mental illness? Revenge? Self- punishment? Competition in the world of music? It's just a bunch of random plot elements hung together on a cello string. It's one thing to have surprises in a movie; it's another thing to be misled by an idiotic script. And it's got an ending that's a weird combination of GROUNDHOG DAY and CARRIE.My most profound memory from this movie is: "Wow, Korea has the CLEANEST parking garage floors in the universe." I'm already forgetting the rest.

Scarecrow-88 Tragedy strikes a deeply depressed musical teacher's family as they fall prey to a vengeful ghost seeking revenge.There's a secret Mi-ju(Hyeon-a Seong)is hiding and we can see that whatever is plaguing her in how she carries herself and on her face. The film's most symbolic image may be several claw mark scars down her arm..they hold a special meaning as to why Mi-ju's innocent family is being preyed upon. A student she gave a bad grade to is causing mischief which seems to have no relevance to the proceedings, but we realize that certain phone calls sent to her(I hope you're happy.. You ought to be..)aren't from this rude girl. Haunting her besides these phone calls is the mental illness plaguing her autistic daughter. Mi-ju pops pills and we can see a cold distance in her marriage to businessman husband. Her sister-in-law is slowly driven crazy by the absence of her fiancé, going to school in America, who has quit calling her. Mi-ju's husband has hired a mute(..she swallowed acid) housekeeper, who lost her family and once attempted suicide several times. And her normal, adorably cute daughter is a victim to the unraveling of the family. The husband, often at work or away from the malevolent occurrences damaging his family, soon himself makes discoveries involving his wife's past which yield a dead school friend of hers, a promising cello musician named Tae-yeon(Da-an Park). Soon Tae-yeon's musical score shows up out of thin air as a constant reminder of that certain secret Mi-ju has kept buried which we'll soon see solving all the mysteries as to why her family suffers so.Asian ghost revenge tale where the lead protagonist is hiding something that will soon come back to haunt her. It's the whole "sins of the mother" where you can perhaps hide a truth from others, but you yourself know what really happened. Mi-ju is a failure in life, not only as a cello player, but as a mother, whose guilt and joyless existence are on display. As I mentioned above, the claw mark scars are perhaps the image one should remember for this reminds Mi-ju of her past for which she can never escape, no matter if her shirt sleeves cover them or not. Not only do the claw marks work as an interesting symbolic image for the story regarding a character's past sins, it remains in our minds for we know there is something to them as it pertains to the mystery of the film. The twist at the end is an oft-used Twilight Zone type of gimmick where a character can truly never escape from the consequences of her own actions. Some of the special effects are decently staged(..what happens to the sister-in-law, for example, or the image of Tae-yeon often popping up out of nowhere), but the film is more of a mystery unraveling with the ghost making occasional appearances as a reminder of who is causing the supernatural terror to Mi-ju's family. The violence is limited to the end as Mi-ju loses her family members one by one to "the ghost". The use of the cello instrument is a key image throughout the film, obviously, and the autistic daughter has a significant role(..and is the cause of an unfortunate major family tragedy)in the story..perhaps she's a representative of bad karma or something regarding her mother's sins? I was so into the story, I paid little attention to the technical side of things, but it's quite professionally made with beautiful camera-work. This is very story-driven psychological thriller with the ghost more or a less an image of Mi-ju's undoing.The creepiest image for me personally was the ghost's ghastly white hand, with those long, black finger nails crawling up the throat of Mi-ju.