Bystanders (Yu-wol-ui il-gi) (2005)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Suspense	Featurette-Making Of Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Getting into the role Theatrical Trailer Gallery-Photo Trailer-Eastern Eye trailers x 4
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	103:04
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (57:06)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Im Kyung-Soo
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Kim Yun-jin Eric Moon Shin Eun-Kyung Yun Ju-sang
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Korean Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Korean dts 5.1 (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes, frequently
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Two classmates from the same high school in Seoul are murdered, one stabbed, the other thrown from a building. They were both popular students and detective Choo Ja-young (Shin Eun-Kyung) and her partner Kim Dong-wook (Eric Moon) investigate. Ja-young has attitude to burn, probably a necessary defence to the putdowns she experiences from her male colleges. She is also caring for her nephew Jun-ha, her deceased sister’s resentful teenage boy who just happens to attend the same school as the dead students. Then a clue is discovered: in the dead student’s stomach is found a capsule with a fragment of a page torn from a diary confessing to the murder. A comparison of the writing with school records indicates that the writer is student Yeo Jin-mo. The catch is that Jin-mo had been killed in a car accident a month previously!

     As the police delve into the life of Jin-mo, they find evidence of a boy who had been bullied badly at school and whose father had deserted the family when he went bankrupt. His mother, Suh Yoon-hee (Kim Yun-jin), is missing and Ja-young soon realises that she and Yoon-hee had been childhood friends. As students from the high school continue to be killed, and the diary pages admitting to the killings continue to turn up, the solution may well be nearer than Ja-young can imagine.

     Bystanders (Yu-wol-ui il-gi), a film by writer / director / producer Im Kyung-soo, is also known as Diary of June, a reference to the fact that the diary entries and the killings occur in the month of June. The film is well made and looks good, with rain swept cityscapes nicely captured. It also has a good cast, and while Kim Yun-jin (Lost) gets top billing, it is really Shin Eun-kyung who carries the film: her intelligent, sassy and conflicted Detective Choo Ja-young is certainly worth watching. However, Bystanders is not a horror film, and the killings are quick and not overly gory. It is also not much of a mystery, as it is reasonably clear from half way through who is committing the killings. The film is really both a police procedural (although I doubt that the detectives would perform the “autopsy” they do in the morgue) and a psychological thriller, and while on a superficial level the message is that bullying is harmful, the film is ultimately more about guilt and family and that those who merely stand by and allow bullying to happen are even more to blame than those who do it.

     Bystanders is a bit obvious but it has a good cast and is a well made and good looking psychological thriller about bullying, murder, guilt and family. Well worth a look

Video

     Bystanders is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     There are no problems with the print. It is sharp and detailed, colours natural, blacks solid and shadow detail fine. While a couple of scenes appeared too bright, the majority were fine and contrast consistent. There was also minor edge enhancement and light grain, but nothing distracting. Artefacts were absent.

     The English subtitles are in a yellow font. There are no obvious spelling or grammatical errors.

     The layer change at 57:06 created a slight jump on my system.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a choice between Korean Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps and Korean DTS 5.1 at 1509 Kbps. This is not a film that relies upon a heavy sound presence; both tracks do an effective job and sound very similar, although the DTS comes across as slightly sharper.

     Dialogue was clear and clean. The surrounds were used for ambient sound, music and traffic and rain effects. The music was subdued but nicely rendered in the mix, providing good support for the visuals. The sub woofer mostly supported the music and was not over aggressive.

     Lip synchronisation is fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Making of Bystanders (12:52)

     Really unstructured and unlinked on set footage with an interview with Kim Yun-jin in the middle. No narration and of limited value. .

Getting into the Role (4:28)

     A variation of one of the final scenes of the film. It is four and a half minutes of one take of Kim Yun-jin emoting to the camera. No words, music as background.

Theatrical Trailer (2:19)

Stills Gallery

     24 movie stills; silent, use the remote to advance.

Eastern Eye Trailers

     Trailers for other films from Madman: No Mercy for the Rude (2:37), The Red Shoes (2:20), The Host (2:15) and A Bittersweet Life (2:10).

     There is no Region 1 US or Region 2 UK version listed and the Region 2 German release has trailers only as extras. The Region 3 Korean 2 disc version has an audio commentary by the director and DP, a making of, behind the scenes, interviews and deleted scenes, but there are no English subtitles available for the extras. Region 4 is the best choice for English speakers.

     Bystanders is a well made, good looking film with a good cast, a psychological thriller about murder, guilt and family. It is interesting and well work a look.

     The DVD has good video and audio and although extras are limited there is not a better English friendly release anywhere else.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall