If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

In the second tier waterlogged Argento film Trauma (1993), a character stares at a print of John Everett Millais's 'Ophelia' (1852), and he seemingly stumbles over a clue. His vision is blurred from crying, and in a reflection in the glass he spies a stranger in black with a snake bracelet whom he mistakes for someone else. Young-hyun Chang uses this Argento sequence as his stepping off point to explore the blurred relationship between art and reality in 'Tell Me Something' (1999) aka Telmisseomding. A cloud hangs over the head of Lieutenant Cho, and how he paid for his mothers' medical expenses. "Why would Park pay an 85 million won bill for a detective trying to arrest him?" is the question an internal affairs investigator asks Cho. Although the question of being guilty of taking a bribe is not resolved, he does say to a colleague (Detective Oh) in one scene "I still don't know if I did the right thing." To which Oh replies "I'm sure you didn't want to go like that, but a decision had to be made."A key scene with seeing, watching, and different ways of being seen involves the questioning of Suyeon Chae. Through various devices such as telemonitors, and shots through internal windows, we see him looking at her, his partner looking at her, and her looking at a video, looking at pictures, and we know that she knows. She knows things.In a nod to 'Giallo' pulp fiction origins, Miss Chae after being installed in the Lieutenants house, finds a note; 'Call me if you need anything. There's a gun in the drawer.' In a neat piece of montage, we are lulled by a waltz as the Lieutenant shows Miss Chae how to use the gun, which is quickly followed by a sequence of mayhem on a freeway as a truck runs over one of the seemingly ubiquitous black garbage bags of body parts that are being dumped around the city.Miss Chae's friend Seungmin is a medical intern who seems like the most likely candidate from the get go; you know her cheery countenance is guilty. She wears white all the time, knows how to use a scalpel. Seungmin has long hair Chae short, Chae is artistic Seungmin scientific. And let's not forget this is influenced by Dario Argento who likes to have an alternate killer in the background.An okay waterlogged thriller whose opening credits features a painting reminiscent of Rembrandt's 'The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp' (1632), which sets up Argento's fresco concern. In the first visit to Miss Chae's house we see a postcard sized reproduction to John Everett Millais' 'Ophelia' (1852), used similarly in Argento's 'Trauma' and 'The Stendahl Syndrome'. Later, in Miss Chae's country family house, there is a painting depicting her as 'Ophelia' from the Millais, painted by her father.Argento like mise-en-scene can be found in an economically executed sequence in a crowded elevator, and another garbage bag full of body parts. The exterior of Miss Chae's fathers house is reminiscent of the empty house in Deep Red. Instead of the children's scrawl on the wall, we get a montage of photos of Miss Chae and a reproduction of the Rembrandt picture. Ultimately though, the idea of scopophilia, being sexual pleasure from looking… gazing, is how Argento seeps through this work. Worth a look.

OK, OK I'll tell you. Pretentious. Predictable. Preposterous. Exhibit A: cop finds out his pretty but sulky witness has attempted suicide several times, turns around and leaves her alone in his flat with his one and only gun, then goes after a serial killer without any weapon, gets mauled in the process, survives the ordeal, chases the killer a second time, this time still without any weapon... And just when you think it can't get any dumber than this, well, that's exhibit A, and as Picard puts it, "Plenty of letters left in in the alphabet"A thinking person's movie? I suppose it could be. I suspect a lot of people who spend their working hours thinking actually like to switch off their brains when they come home after a hard thinking day's work.

Detective Cho is a troubled man. He has had to cope with personal loss and his career as a cop is in crisis as it appears he is corrupt and has been on the take for years. Redemption often takes unusual forms and for Cho it is the form of dismembered corpses, discovered in various places. The body parts are mixed up and fingerprints and other obvious identifying marks have been removed. Told to work quickly and form his own team, Cho is assigned to the seemingly impossible case.Another reviewer has already spotted the irony of this film being rather disjointed so I must nod to them as I steal their gag because that is a good description of the film. It isn't so much that there are too many clues and too much going on (as another writer said) but more that it didn't do enough to hold the audience. I never really felt like there was a good mystery building up here to the point that I was gripped by it but only to the point where I was half-interested in it. It had style up to a point but I didn't think the substance was there to back it up. As with many Korean films, the commercial influence from the west is present and here the aspiration seems to be Se7en but it falls a long way short.The cast are OK with Han and Jang working well together in the classic partner combo. Han was too restrained and difficult to read but Jang was good albeit in a very obvious sidekick way. Shim was fine but she is just part of a cast that really don't work that well mainly because the material isn't there for them. An interesting affair at points, this mostly failed to grip me and only intermittently did it managed to get by with style and some gore. Frantically needing more pace and/or depth though, this isn't good enough to be worth watching it ahead of the many, many better serial killer thrillers out there.

"Tell Me Something" was a big hit in South Korea and it's not a big surprise for me.Lieutant Cho,while under investigation for corruption,is suddenly thrust into a higher priority serial killer case.A mysterious killer is leaving garbage bags full off dismembered corpses around Seoul.With the amputated arms and legs mismatched,the victims are nearly impossible to identify.Some of the body parts found are soon linked to a beautiful woman played by Shim Eun-ha."Tell Me Something" is a grisly and eerily dark thriller heavily influenced by Italian giallos of the 1970's.The film features a deranged killer,a captivating mystery with plenty of red herrings and even a piece of art that figures prominently in the climax.It's stylish and offers a few very gruesome death scenes.The gore effects are fairly convincing and the film is filled with darkness and creeping dread.So if you are a fan of Italian giallos or disturbing Asian horror give this masterpiece a look.Highly recommended.