Having missed it in theaters, I took home a press screener DVD of Shadows in the Palace and watched it last night with my wife. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I can’t recommend it, but I wouldn’t want to sit through it again.
A mystery set in the Korean royal court at some point in the past (my guess would be the 19th century), Shadows in the Palace concerns itself with a murder meant to look like a suicide, and a nurse determined to get to the bottom of the entire mess (which, naturally, is far more complicated than it first appears). It does an excellent job giving us the sense of a very foreign place and time, and that’s it’s leading advantage. But the extremely complex story is almost impossible to follow with any real detail. For instance, I’m not entirely sure if there’s a supernatural element to it.
That’s forgivable. Far more troubling are the many scenes of extremely gruesome torture. Only twice before in my adult life have I been forced too look away from the screen, and no other movie made me look away more than once. You need a strong stomach for this one.
If you still want to see Shadows in the Palace, it screens at the Kabuki on Thursday at 7:45.
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