To Sir With Love - Unusual Revenge Tale

To Sir With Love is a recent horror film from Korea, a summer hit that is either good or bad, depending on how you accept the "twist" at the end, which changes your concept of the entire movie. I see it as an uneven film that has many strong elements in it, but are not taken advantage of, and instead settles for what they think is a clever take on the slasher film. The "Sir" in the movie actually refers to a female teacher, the reasons for which I do not know. Perhaps it is because of the high esteem and value that teachers have in Korean society, as a leader, mentor, guide and instructor to the youth. I have seen in many films, comedy, drama, or otherwise where teachers regularly discipline their students -- by discipline I mean something a lot stronger than a nun whacking a child's hands for being naughty. Abuse is putting it mildly, but that is my own colored viewpoint. Or maybe not, as this film seems to assert. To Sir with Love is about a group of people who have a reunion with their old teacher, now an invalid and is being taken care of by an old classmate of theirs. In fact, she invited them out to the seashore where they are staying. There is a jock who is now pudgy, a glamorous woman who used to be fat in school, a silent young man (silent in school as well), an engaged couple who used to be class president and vice-president, and a handsome but dangerous James Dean type young man. All are there to see their old teacher, and all harbor a grudge against her. All except the woman who is caring for her. The teacher, as shown in quick cutting flashbacks, seems to have had a rough life -- she gave birth to a child (out of wedlock? from another man?) who was not loved by the father. In fact, he made every attempt to trash the poor boy, beating him until he became deformed, and his mother had to care for him in the basement, never to let him wander out. Her husband later kills himself. One can only assume that this behavior influenced the woman as a teacher, in administering punishment or her lack of care towards her students. Though never explicitly shown, one infers that the jock had his knee busted by her, for failing to run hard enough, the James Dean guy was sexually molested, the silent man made fun of constantly in class, the glamorous woman made fun of her weight, and mistreating the class president. They have a cookout and seem to have a pleasant time, until the class president, not containing his anger, bursts out that they are hypocrites to make bygones be bygones. He runs away, and later on is attacked by a man wearing a bunny mask, imprisoned in the basement, and killed. Hie fiancee meets the same fate, as the jock. The glamorous woman tries to kill the teacher, but is foiled by the care taker. The James Dean guy is attacked by the masked man, who turns out to be the silent man, and both kill each other. The glamorous woman is killed by the care taker as she tries to kill the teacher (again) by pushing her wheelchair off a cliff, but is instead killed herself in the struggle. The caretaker and the teacher survive, and the care taker tells the entire story to the police. Upon further investigation, the detective finds out that the killer was the care taker herself, and that her story was entirely made up -- she poisoned the whole group during the dinner -- there was no slasher! The teacher and the caretaker are on the pier, where she lashes out at the teacher. Her indifference towards her hand made gift to her caused the care taker's mom to go out and seek her, but is struck by a car (again with the hit and run!) and is made an invalid. This is the caretaker's revenge, to continue to make the teacher's life a living hell up till the end. She then kills herself, and the teacher, grief stricken, throws herself into the water as well.

I think this would have been a really powerful movie if it was about the reunion and the grudges for past grievances, instead of a slasher film. Sure, it was a red herring, but the final result is no more satisfying or clear. If it was about the teacher, how she conducted the class, her abusive relationship to the students, and make it about her comeuppance, bloody or not, it would have been a more interesting film to watch. But like in so many other recent films, too much effort is made in trying to do something different to a genre, and as a result becomes too clever for its own good, or ends up becoming the very thing it is trying to transcend. The quick cutting, which keeps things moving and the viewer interested, is subverted by the plot. While it is certainly different than the typical Asian horror, like the Ring or Ju-On, it doesn't do enough. In terms of revenge, the director of Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Oldboy owns that genre. Perhaps they should have looked more closely at his works, as they provide a rich and detailed background for the characters which brings motive and drive to do the awful things they do. Here it is all a product of a deranged woman's mind, and one can't help but feel cheated out of a decent story.