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 f movies have taught me anything (and to be honest,
they've taught me very little, natch), it's never to drive cross-country without
either a gun or a really big bodyguard. I bring this up only because recent
movies like "Joyride",
"Jeepers
Creepers," and now "Say Yes", have proven to me that really really
bad things can happen to you while on a cross-country road trip. That said,
"Say Yes" is one of the best thrillers I've seen, and (dare I say it?)
I'm waiting for a sequel with bated breath.
I am flabbergasted by just how good "Say
Yes" is. Up front, the film looks and sounds like another generic
Slasher/Thriller about a psycho who decides to mess with a couple on a road
trip. In essence, it really is just that: a psycho named Em (although his name
is never actually mentioned) played by Joong-Hoon Park decides, seemingly on a
whim, to target a (seemingly) happy couple on a Winter road trip. After
insinuating himself into their car as a passenger, Em doesn't wait long before
confessing to Yun-hie (Sang Mi Chu) and Jeong-hyun (Ju-hyuk Kim) that he can't
decide which one of them he wants to kill.
After that sudden and shocking sequence, the movie never
lets up. The young couple becomes the sole obsession of Em, who tells them that
because he can no longer feel anything (as a side effect of not sleeping very
well for 3 years), he no longer cares about what he does to them or to himself.
This leaves the couple with two options: fight back or flee. At first Jeong-hyun
decides to fight back, only to find himself in even more trouble (as Em
planned). After a while it becomes obvious that the couple can't shake the
persistent Em simply because Em has been doing this longer and he can predict
their behaviors and reactions, and are ready to counter at every turn.
The psychotic Em is played by Joong-Hoon Park ("Nowhere
to Hide"), who gives a devastatingly effective performance as a
blissfully evil man who lives to torture and kill because doing anything else no
longer matters. Park exudes menace, even as he's being pummeled by a defiant
Jeong-hyun, who soon realizes he's no physical match for the swift and violent
Em. This guy is not only dangerous, but he's also determined and smart and he thinks
ahead. Pray that you never lock eyes with him in a diner.
Writer Hye-young Yeo has fashioned a tight and complex
screenplay here. While Jeong-hyun and Yun-hie seems perfectly happy on the
outside, there's a real struggle to understand each other. In one very telling
moment, Jeong-hyun says "I love you" to Yun-hie during an intimate
scene, to which Yun-hie replies with a nod and nothing else. This odd response
comes into further play when, captured by Em, Jeong-hyun is forced to decide
rather to be tortured or "allow" Em to kill Yun-hie. (He's asked to
"say yes" to Em, hence the title.) Will he do it? Or better yet, in
his place would Yun-hie do it?
For a moment, just a brief moment, "Say Yes"
threatens to wander into Slasher territory where Em becomes an unstoppable
machine even the Terminator would envy. Fortunately the filmmakers manage to
regain their senses and return to the things that made the film so good for the
first hour and change: an intense and unpredictable suspense thriller that while
staying within the borders of its genre is still unpredictable. (And the ending.
My God, the ending! Let's just say the phrase, "A geyser of blood" is not
an exaggeration.)
The direction by Sung-Hong Kim is tight and balanced, and
the director manages to capture all the right moments that pass between couple
Yun-hie and Jeong-hyun. We are never sure if this two will split at a moment's
notice, or if they are willing to "go at it together." There is also a
sense that Yun-hie might abandon Jeong-hyun at any moment, and sometimes we
wonder if she actually realizes just how dangerous of a creature Em is. It also
helps that actress Sang Mi Chu is a beautiful woman, and every time the camera
lingers on her lovely face you can't help but feel for the misery that Em is
putting her through.
"Say Yes" is a superior Suspense Thriller with
terrific direction, a tight and involving script, and a stellar cast. The movie
never becomes predictable, and every moment, even the quiet ones, crackles with
tension. You can't ask for more than that in a genre film.
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