Parallel Life (2010)

Have you ever heard about the line “The person makes his own destiny/fate”? Well, this film will make you question that saying from the bottom of your heart amongst other things.

After watching many Korean suspense thrillers, I became surer that there’s no other genre that can top thrillers in Korean cinema because they’re simply too good at making those and Parallel Life belongs to the good ones. This film starts off a bit slow and may not captivate your interest ever since the beginning, but all of those introductions were necessary for the film’s latter events and developments.

Parallel Life analyses the “Parallel theory” where two people have the exact same life with an amount of years apart. Of course that may seem unbelievable at the beginning and can always be considered as a coincidence but as the film develops, many facts come to light and surprise us. In order to conclude whether a thriller suspense film was good or not, you need to ask yourself this simple question: “Was I surprised and entertained”? If the answer is “no” then the film was a failure for its genre but if it was a “yes” then you know that this film can be considered a good one out of its genre. Parallel Life fits in the second category.

This film’s suspense and mystery were tight and intriguing, they always manage to attract you in and make you suspect every single character that appears on screen. What makes this film even more captivating is the final outcome, you can hardly predict who was behind it all even if the “why” was a little obvious to me but it’s intriguing how can the “Parallel theory” interfere that deeply in one’s life.

The acting was pretty well done. I am ashamed to admit that this is my first time seeing Ji Jin Hee in anything. But this first successful encounter will allow me to pick many of his other productions because he was truly amazing in this as well as many other actors. The characters were nicely written, it was interesting to find out the similarities between Kim Seok Hyun and Han Sang Jun as well as their destinies and the way things will turn out to be. The characterization is written in a way that will oblige you to relate to them.

In a line, I would mention that the cinematography was good enough and the music was fitting for the thriller/suspense mood.

Watch if:
-You’re looking for a good suspense/thriller.
-You like the Korean way of making thrillers.
-You like surprising plots.

Do not watch if:
-You dislike the genres.
-You’re looking for a bloody/violent thriller.

Parallel Life is a well-crafted suspense thriller which appeals to the fans of intriguing plots.

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Parallel Life is a movie that borders on the edge of reality and fantasy. This movie asked the question are we all destined to follow a certain path or do we have the power to changed our life. Ji Jin Hee plays a young successful judge with an attractive wife and daughter. His life appears picture perfect until the night his wife was murdered. He becomes obsessed with finding his wife's murderer. His obsession to find the murderer leads him question the authority and people around him. He keeps pursuing the truth no matter who gets hurt.

The unique story line of this movie grabbed my attention. I watched this movie twice and each time I am amazed and shocked by the unforgettable outcome. Ji Jin Hee does a superb as the leading actor in this dark mesmerizing fantasy movie.

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