Roger Burke As I watched this film, I kept asking myself: What's the killer's motivation(s)? Not until the last few minutes did that become clear – well, as clear as it could be, given the narrative structure: reminiscent of the plot of Se7en (1995) but with the addition of a number of flashbacks that do more to confuse than to wholly satisfy.And, there are obvious nods to not only Se7en, but Silence of the lambs (1991), also, particularly the cinematography and scene construction. At one point, echoing a scene from the former, Detective Cho (Suh-kyu Han) is lying exhausted in a rain-soaked alley way, while the killer sits waiting in his car, only two metres away; but instead of running Cho down, the killer screams away into the rain. In another scene, Cho is in an elevator and looks up to see bright blood dripping from the hatchway, and then also dripping down the wall; suddenly, the hatch breaks and buckets of blood cascade onto him. Add to that are the many interior scenes in run-down tenements and so forth, all evocative of the spooky corridors of those earlier films.Still, the story is interesting, in a macabre way: across Seoul, body parts turn up in black plastic bags, but not all parts belong to the body. Somebody is perpetrating murder piecemeal. Enter Detective Cho, somewhat under suspicion for corruption but handed the case as way to redeem his career. More mixed-up body parts are discovered, but no hands with fingerprints. So, no clues. Until a head appears with teeth fillings that can be traced. One thing leads to another until Cho finds himself knocking on the door to Chae Su-Yeon (Eun-ha Shim), a young woman who knows all the male victims.And so begins the real mystery for Cho - and the viewer. Through questioning and a series of flashbacks, it looks like Chae is in the frame; yet, murders continue while she is under surveillance. Suspicion falls upon her father, who, from Chae's account, is shown to be a sadistic, authoritarian figure; but he can't be found. And then there's a further nod to another thriller, Kiss the girls (1997), where the idea of a deadly duo is raised and then quashed when a prime suspect is himself reduced to a jumble of parts in a bag. All very messy for Cho, and increasingly so, because he appears to be attracted to the sweet Chae Su-Yeon, a complication he can do without, you would think.In a way, I can also compare this film to the manner in which David Lynch constructs his films. When you see any of the more recent Lynch films, the real mystery (and challenge) is how to understand the story. For Tell Me Something, the problem is how to understand the mystery because, as I said, the killer's motivation(s) is the key. And yet, at the end, there is no absolute clarity, even though the identity is obvious. So if I provide my understanding here and now, I think that would detract from the pleasure of unraveling it for yourself. Meanwhile, I'll continue to ponder the significance of the title, the significance of which escapes me.However, the production is excellent and the special effects (dismembered bodies, body pieces, heads, gutted torsos and so on) are so realistic they may cause some people more than just some discomfit. It will certainly satisfy the slash-and-gore set who liken this movie to Italian giallo cinema, exemplified by Dario Argento's works such as Deep Red (1977), Tenebre (1982) and others. It's classified as a horror film and I think that's justified, given the underpinnings of the story and the camera work.I can't comment much on the acting as I'm not familiar with the actors or Korean cinema, having seen only a few; generally, however, I think the actors performed quite well.Recommended for those who like a mixed bag of horror, mystery and thriller...and body parts.

shadowman123 I am a huge fan of foreign cinema and it is no secret that we are all going looking abroad for a good thrill or scare with the Japanese and Koreans leading the way, I mean if you want further proof then check out Battle Royale and Oldboy but unfortunately they have fallen short with this one. From the cover and recent reviews people have given this good reviews and I was very looking forward to watching this but unfortunately it just did not take off well enough for me. Tell Me Something is a gruesome tail of a lunatic that seems to kill people by cutting them up and mixing parts of their bodies together leading police on a puzzler rather than a wild goose chase. Leading the investigation of this is an officer that is being investigated him-self for corruption .... now normally Asian thrillers move on at a quick pace and we are introduced to our main characters and their woes as the film moves along at a nice pace but however this time round the film seems to take a very long time focusing on character development with a stubborn officer who is trying to suss things out between spots of doing a little bit of detective work ! The movie kind of trundles along a little to slowly and although thats not really a bad thing, it tries to make its-self bleak and but instead ends up becoming dull and the good use of camera angles don't help it out at all. However it does kind of redeem its-self as it does not truly rely on shock value but it kind of becomes easy to piece things together but then it becomes rushed towards the end with little or no explanation offered for all that. To conclude Tell Me Something is a bit like a Lamborghini Gallardo, for the out-side you want one, but then when you actually drive it you find out that it is no all what it was you would hope it would but because it was a Lambo you went along for the ride anyway! Thats how I felt about Tell Me Something, a thriller made by a nation which has a reputation for making great films but instead they just give us something very average which does not really seem to cut the mustard.TELL ME SOMETHING : 6.7 OUT 10SOME CRIMES ARE BETTER LEFT UNSOLVED!

EVOL666 TELL ME SOMETHING is one of those rare treats from Asia, as it has no creepy little girls with long black hair, or ghosts, or "rings", or anything like that - instead this film is a straight forward serial-killer horror/thriller, and a pretty damn good one at that...Body parts are turning up around Korea and the only thing linking them is a quiet young woman who used to date all of the victims. A cop who's being watched for possible misconduct is put on the case, and we slowly start learning more about the girl's life - including things about her father, her best friend, and her current boyfriend that casts rays of suspicion on herself and everyone around her...TELL ME SOMETHING is well-acted, well-directed and is an all around well-done film. A little gorier than your average American thriller (which is a plus...) but not an all-out bloodbath either. The strong story keeps you guessing, and the end has a decent little twist. Fans of SEVEN and the like will dig this one. 8.5/10

Renaldo Matlin The Korean film-industry is without a doubt one of the most interesting and fun to watch in the world today. Titles like the haunting and oddly fascinating "Salinui chueok" (Memories of Murder) and the half-cool/half-turkey "Tube" spring to mind. You never really know what you'll get when you sit down to watch a South Korean film today, but "Tell Me Something" is an example of a movie that has a lot of things going for it but in the end leaves you more confused than satisfied.Now I rarely have a hard time following the plot of a serial-killer movie (of recent ones I found the US thriller "Taking Lives" an insult to my intelligence as I could figure out it's every move a mile away), but "Tell Me Something" demands a lot from it's viewer. I suspect the language barrier is partly to blame, as I got the feeling some clues must have been left out in the subtitles, but the director obviously could have done a better job. I give him an A+ for it's grisly, stylish look but an F for his lack of explaining several loose ends in the plot.The main problem is that he loads the film with tons of information but doesn't know how to treat it all. The viewer is almost drowned in clues handed out seemingly at random, leaving it an impossible task for us to try and figure out the killer, which is half the fun in movies like these.It's really ironic how a movie about dismembered victims, it-self is told in such a dismembered fashion.I give "Tell Me Something" a 6.5 out of 10 for it's gory, stylish execution. A fun, but not too original, soundtrack also adds to the entertainment value.