FIKSI.NET — Confession (2022) is a South Korean movie that tells a story about a man named Yoo Min-ho (played by So Ji-seob) who has been pointed as the culprit of a locked-room murder. His lawyer, interrogated him to hear the truth and understand the true situation before she helped him.
Even though not playing as the main character, the sole reason I watched this movie is Im Jin-ah/Nana, ex After School member. She played as Yoo Min-ho’s secret lover, Kim Se-hee, who is also a key character in the movie. Other than Confession, you could also see Nana’s performance in Netflix series; Glitch (2022), and Mask Girl (2023).
Unfortunately, I cannot review this movie without giving you any major spoilers. If you are wondering whether or not this movie is worth the watch, to save you some time, I will say, yes! This movie is a good watch if you love suspense, thriller, and mystery. Now, with that aside, you can proceed to watch the movie before continue reading this article.
WARNING! This article contains major spoilers of the movie Confession (2022). If you haven’t watched the movie and you don’t want any spoilers, watch the movie first before continue reading. Please proceed with caution! {alertError}
Since I already put the synopsis in the beginning of this article, I will proceed to review the movie, Confession.
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When The Dead Can’t Defend Themselves
The movie really starts when the lawyer arrived at Yoo Min-ho's cabin. She immediately started to ask Yoo Min-ho to tell her the truth if Yoo Min-ho wants her to defend him. Right away, Yoo Min-ho told his lawyer that, him and his ex-secret lover, Kim Se-hee, was called to come to a hotel by an anonymous person. They were willing to go since the anonymous person seemed to know something they both had done together in the past.
Suddenly, while Yoo Min-ho and Kim Se-hee was waiting, they saw the police arriving. Yoo Min-ho, sensing something is not right, then prompted Kim Se-hee quickly get out of the hotel room and run away. But suddenly, someone hit Yoo Min-ho's head, until he passed out, and when he woke up, he saw Kim Se-hee already dead in the bathroom, and the police was knocking on their door.
The lawyer then asked Yoo Min-ho, what he had done? Other than the affair he had with Kim Se-hee. Something must have pressured Yoo Min-ho to come to that hotel with a bag of money for someone who had blackmailed him, something more important, and detrimental, than just an affair he had. The lawyer even added that the prosecutor has a witness who will confess against him. But a witness of what, is what the lawyer wants Yoo Min-ho to open up.
After Yoo Min-ho tried to keep his mouth shut, he eventually admitted the bad thing he and Kim Se-hee had done, an accidental killing. They were having their affair in Busan, after Yoo Min-ho business trip, he went to see Kim Se-hee in her favorite place.
Unfortunately, during their way back to Seoul, Yoo Min-ho ask to break up, to end the affair once and for all. Kim Se-hee, who was driving, looked shocked, and she didn't see a deer in the middle of the road. Her attempt to avoid the deer resulted in their car almost hitting another car coming from the opposite direction. The car from the opposite direction slipped, crashed its side, and instantly killed the driver. Mind you, this part is based solely on Min-ho's confession.
Min-ho also told his lawyer that Kim Se-hee was the one taking control of the situation. Min-ho said that he was going to call the police, but Se-hee stopped him. Based on his story, Se-hee was the one who had the idea to make a scenario when a trucker passed them by—making it seemed like Se-hee, and Min-ho was the owners of the cars. Listening to Yoo Min-ho confession, the lawyer was not convinced, and this is the part where the movie gets so interesting.
The story uses unreliable narrator. Since Kim Se-hee is dead, she cannot defend herself against Kim Min-ho's confession. How can we trust Min-ho's story when the circumstances tell otherwise of what he said to the lawyer?
What makes this movie so good?
I don't think this story will work without the amazing performance of the actor and actress involved. While Min-ho was telling the lawyer his confession, we get flashback scenes, visualizing what he wants us to believe. I think they shot some alternative scenes for the twist of Min-ho's confession, as well as "what if" scenes for the lawyer's speculations.
The story has a lot of layers of deceptions. The manipulative nature of Yoo Min-ho, is really convincing, making us believe him at first, that Kim Se-hee was killed because she was the one orchestrated everything to hide the accidental killing. And the witness from the prosecutor's side, could it be the trucker who passed them by?
However, the lawyer doesn't believe him at faced value. She questions everything, until eventually she was the one who gather the pieces and uncover what really happen between Yoo Min-ho and Kim Se-hee. For the lawyer, Kim Min-ho seemed so eager to pin everything to Kim Se-hee, why? because the dead can't defend themselves?
Min-ho said that Se-hee was the one behind the driver's wheel, when in actuality, it makes more sense for the lawyer if Min-ho is the one who was driving. It was not just the feeling from the lawyer, but also the testimony from the witness, and considering that Min-ho has so much more to lose than Se-hee. Furthermore, the lawyer believed that it was actually Se-hee who asked to break up and stop the affair between them.
The back-to-back interaction between Yoo Min-ho and his lawyer is the central scenes amidst the flashbacks. The lawyer seemed sure that Yoo Min-ho is the one who actually took control of everything in the accidental killing, and he killed Kim Se-hee in that hotel room because the person who blackmailed him was her.
The lawyer believes that Yoo Min-ho is acting innocent, just like how he told his version of the story of what happened during the accident that killed another driver. After all, he was the only one in that hotel room with Kim Se-hee—who was already dead when the police knock on their door—then he fabricated his attack to make it seemed like there is another person in the room with them, even though the police didn't find anyone other than them in that closed room.
Flat Ending, Even After a Strong Opening and Middle Acts
For some reason, I always see South Korean series and movies are struggling with the final act of the story. This movie also suffers the same flaws.
After the truth is finally open in the air, the lawyer who looked so strong, determined, and unbothered in the beginning, suddenly lose her composure. It is later revealed that the lawyer is the mother of the driver who got killed accidentally by Kim Min-ho. She was not supposed to be there, and Min-ho was not stupid, he figured it out after witnessing the lawyer's reaction to his story about how got rid of the car and the body. Surely, Min-ho confronted the lawyer with her lies, and framed her for shooting him.
And this is where the ending of the movie feels very anti-climactic and flat. I don't know what's going on even though I have repeated the last scenes a couple times to understand how the police finally caught Min-ho instead of the lawyer. Yet, till now, I still don't get it.
I think they really forced the resolution to be satisfying for the audience, especially, audience from South-Korea. I've heard people like Min-ho is very common there, manipulative, rich and powerful men, who will do anything to avoid consequences of their terrible actions.
The ending wants to show you a poetic justice; no matter the lies, the justice will be served, eventually. But I don't know, I'm not convinced with how they tell it in this movie. The first two acts of the movie ia super strong, when the lawyer trying the get the confession out of Min-ho. Yet the final resolution is all over the place.
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