When a woman is brutally murdered, with no apparent motive, detectives Jung Sun-jung and Oh Sung-ho are assigned to the case. But as the bodies mount up an unexpected connection between Oh and the killer becomes apparent...

Princess Aurora (Orora Gongju, 2005) is written and directed by first time Korean director Eun-jin Bang, whose poster title could have read ‘Even a killer can make you cry’. For a first time movie the film has much to recommend it, with an ending, which is both disturbing and emotionally moving.

What starts off as a series of unrelated grisly murders, and believe me some of them are very graphic, soon turns into something much sadder. You get the splatter fest of the first murder; a drowning in clay; suffocation; and the poor bloke who gets his goolies cut off with a pair of scissors - a little something for everyone, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Central to the success of the film is the beautiful Jeong-hwa Eom as Jung Soon-jung, the mother out for revenge against a corrupt and indifferent legal system. This lady is scary, turning as she does from a portrayal of wide-eyed sexual innocence to crazed killer - usually in one explosive unexpected moment. The whole film is built around her performance, and I guarantee that her portrayal at the close of the film will have you welling up in tears. This is not an easy task, as when we first meet her she violently butchers what appears to be an innocent woman, in front of her own child.

You quickly realise that something else is going on with this film. Usually the police side of the plot specifically identifies the victims and you get to see them work out the connection between the victims and the killer, not so here. The victims identity remain surprisingly hidden by the film makers, so that the final reveal regarding the motive comes as a surprise for the audience and turns the whole film on its head. This is the point where you stop being disgusted with Jung Soon-jungs behaviour and start feeling sorry for the killer.

Sung-keun Moon, as Detective Oh Sung-ho, plays the older, wiser cop who is partnered to a younger Oh-jung Kwon playing Detective Jung, a staple paring in cop dramas. Though, as the identity of the killer dawns on Oh Sung-ho, the latter’s role is reduced to him chasing his boss around without really contributing much to the investigation. I won’t give away the big reveal, but the plot is somewhat odd in that you would have thought that Detective Oh would have guessed the identity of the killer by the second murder.

If you’re looking for another film like Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy for Lady Vengeance or Old Boy you're in the wrong area. Yes this is about vengeance, but not about the futility of it, but its sometimes righteous justification.

The film is presented in a very nice anamorphic print with either a Korean stereo or 5.1 track, with the option of subtitles.

When you see films like this it’s a shame that Tartan have gone belly up. I for one would like to thank them for making available some great films which would otherwise not have been distributed in the west. So long guys and thanks for all the films.

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Charles Packer