Introduction
In 2020, Lee Chung-hyun directed The Call, a South Korean psychological thriller that also has science fiction elements. The film intricately weaves a tale of two women, decades apart, whose lives intertwine through a singular phone call that merges time. The film is one of South Korea’s most talked-about genre films for the year due to its well-crafted screenplay, atmospheric tension, and captivating performances by Park Shin-hye and Jeon Jong-seo.
The Call blends horror and psychological elements set within a singular rural home. The film builds suspense not through special effects or extravagant action, but through character relationships and moral complexity.
Plot Overview
The film opens in 2019 with Seo-yeon, a woman in her late 20s who is returning to her childhood home in the countryside after hearing news about her sick mother. She is distanced from her family and carries emotional weight from her past. While exploring the house, she decides to check the basement, where an old rotary phone catches her attention—especially because it still functions.
To her astonishment, Seo-yeon answers the vintage phone and learns that a woman named Young-sook is calling desperately claiming she lives in the same house—only it is 1999. Through conversation, the two begin speaking across time and slowly build a friendship based on their deep-rooted suffering and emotional isolation. Seo-yeon is currently stuck in the process of mourning her father’s death and is forced to deal with a resentful and strict mother, while Young-sook is tormented by an abusively religious adoptive mother who thinks she is possessed.
Not long after, the phone calls evolve into something deeper than mere talk. Each time Seo-yeon shares snippets of the future with Young-sook, the latter uses that information to change her present. For example, Young-sook learns from Seo-yeon that her father would one day perish in a fire. Taking advantage of that knowledge, Young-sook makes sure the disaster does not take place. Because of the changes, Seo-yeon’s reality is immediately reshaped—her father is alive, the family’s financial situation has drastically improved, and life seems ideal. Yet such a miracle has devastating repercussions.
Seo-yeon discovers that Young-sook has transformed her own life as well. In her version of events, Young-sook increasingly becomes more violent and sadistic, murdering her adoptive mother and commencing a series of killings. What was once a lifeline between two isolated women now turns into a vicious contest of dominance, as Young-sook learns that she can endanger and manipulate Seo-yeon by controlling the timeline. Brutality from Young-sook escalates in proportion to Seo-yeon’s resistance.
The stakes rise in the film’s third act. This time, Seo-yeon has to win a struggle to escape not only in the current timeline but also retroactively, attempting to bring her younger self and family to safety. As this transpires, Young-sook takes pleasure in her capacity to reshape existence and punish Seo-yeon for her attempts at meddling. A climactic tension-filled confrontation across multiple timelines results in a shocking defeat for the protagonists that implies that the horrors have just begun where the convergence of timelines bursts into a chilling final phone call.
Characters and Performances
The emotional and thematic impact of The Call relies significantly on the two lead performances.
Park Shin-hye, as Seo-yeon, portrays a grounded character as she enters the story, one already emotionally wounded. Over the course of the film, she becomes gradually more resolute and courageous. Her transformation throughout the film from a passive victim to an empowering survivor is engaging, and Park expresses both inner tension and quiet determination with finesse and precision.
As Young-sook, Jeon Jong-seo gives a spellbinding and horrifying performance. Sympathetic and childlike at first, her spiraling madness is deeply unsettling. Jeon seamlessly alternates between gentle and sadistic, imbuing the film with its urgent visceral and psychological power. In recent years, she morphs Young-sook into one of the most unforgettable antagonists in Korean Cinema, and her unpredictability and malevolence are amplified by the subtlety with which Jeon portrays the character.
The supporting characters, particularly Seo-yeon’s mother and Young-sook’s adoptive parent, embody trauma across generations, providing depth to the story as matriarchs of colonial control and the intricate dynamics of parent-child relationships.
Thematic and Analytical Focus
The Call transcends the boundaries of a sci-fi thriller; it is centered on character analysis, focusing on the aftermath of remorse, trauma, and the moral pitfalls of temporal manipulation.
- The Butterfly Effect and Consequences
The film’s central concern is the idea that the smallest modifications one makes in the past can have devastating consequences. Seo-yeon’s decision to inform Young-sook about the fire stems from a mixture of sorrow and desperation, yet it sets off a chain of consequences that defy reversal. The film seeks to portray the temptation of wanting to change the past and understands the futility of control, when it comes to destiny.
- The Frustration of Redemption
The two characters are trapped in the realities of their chaotic lives. Aiming to escape, Seo-yeon attempts to edit her painful past, while Young-sook tries to avoid her oppressive nurturing. Instead of serenity, both women achieve the opposite as they become trapped by their own wishes. The film highlights the danger of tampering with a personal narrative and demonstrates how elusive trauma is, and that it cannot be healed through shortcuts.
- The Delicacy of Self
As timelines shift, life becomes markedly different for Seo-yeon. Each alteration not only impacts her memories, but her entirety. She becomes a stranger to her own existence and reality. In the same way, Young-sook’s metamorphosis from a shy girl into a monstrous being casts doubt on the notion that identity is shaped by environment, memories, or something deeper.
- Women, Power, and Violence
Unlike most thrillers that feature male characters, The Call centers on women as both protagonists and antagonists. The relationships between Seo-yeon, Young-sook, and their mothers explore themes of intergenerational violence and control. While the film depicts conflict and chaos, the female characters are emotionally complex and chaotic, struggling for control amid violence.
Direction and Cinematic Style
Lee Chung-hyun firmly maintains control of tone and pacing for the film as a whole. Visual storytelling is richly atmospheric in the film’s distinct timelines: the color warmer and more analog for the 1999 sequences, cooler and more sterile for present-day scenes. As the timelines begin to overlap, however, aesthetics blend, heightening confusion and fear.
The editing shines in moments where past and present intersect in real time interplay. Rapid cross-cutting telegraphs the impact of a single moment within both timelines. Lee builds suspenseful emotional intensity as time shifts within the narrative.
Eerie minimalism characterizes the film’s score, which emphasizes tension without straining. The use of silence makes abrupt sounds—especially the ringing of the phone—interrupting the stillness like a jolt.
Conclusion
The Call stands out as an expertly crafted time-travel thriller, blending the genre’s conventions with poignant storytelling. With two strong performances, a cleverly structured script, and an atmosphere of heightened tension, the film merges bold sci-fi concepts with deeply psychological horror. Even after the final scene, the film’s exploration of regret, identity, and the consequences of actions endures.
The film deliberately chooses not to wrap up its story with easy answers or a comforting resolution, preferring to leave viewers feeling uneasy instead. It serves as an important reminder that the past is fragile and decisions made can sometimes cause irreparable damage, and that in certain situations, true healing only comes from confronting the situation head-on.
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