Compulsion (2013) – Nice Food Shots but what about the story?
Category: Thriller
Actors: Heather Graham, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Mantegna, Kevin Dillon
Duration: 89 min
Rated: R
You might like this movie if you enjoyed:
Fatal Attraction (1987), Single White Female (1992)
Long Story Short: A young woman (Heather Graham) with an extreme passion for food is suspected to be involved with the disappearing of her neighbor (Carrie-Anne Moss). While she is preparing a meal for the investigating officer she is reminiscing, and the truth slowly gets revealed.
Review: It saddens me to see Heather Graham in all these weird B-movies, but I guess once you did one, you are stuck in this genre forever. The movie starts very appealing by showing many different food shots and colors and Heather Graham in many different Stepford -wife -like outfits, and the story seems interesting, too. But after about 30 minutes it starts getting a little boring, there doesn’t seem to be any character development, and I honestly don’t remember the dialogues, because they have been so meaningless. It seems like Egidio Coccimiglio had a good idea but didn’t know how to breath life into his characters, so it is hard to even feel anything. When the end credits rolled out, I felt clueless and untouched. Compulsion is one of the better movies Heather Graham has come out with lately, nonetheless it doesn’t deliver any tension or depth.
Rating: 4.5/10
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Is anyone know the music at 48:39 when Amy and her mom have lunch in the market place? Thanks
It’s “String Quartet in F (2nd movement)” by Joseph Haydn 😀
Very good actors,…. but (apparently) unlike the Korean version, the ending
could have been a little more “in your face”. I don’t mean gratuitous sex and
violence but it could have used at least one scene or dialogue, which left no
doubt. Yes , the anorexic said “I want you to do (something) for me”,
and we “know” the chef cooked the African bird (or did she let it out of the
window, show him a feather and cook a legally consumed game bird?)
Without more character development, & at least a flash of evidence , we have a
gory, “allegory” and the facts from the Korean film titled 301/302. Oh yes and
the detective is horrified when she puts meat in the garbage disposal.
I’m taking this to extremes, but this is a perfect depiction of the American practice:
“Guilty until proven innocent”.
Judge to Jury: ” You just voted guilty unanimously and recommend death!”
“What is your evidence?”
Jury: “She was weird your Honor , and detective testified he was nauseated
after eating a weird piece of meat. He found a feather. Ex-boyfriend said, she’s
into weird food and his bird went missing. This exact thing happened in Korea
once, there was no DNA, body or bird but my God, she was weird. ” GUILTY.
The film Compulsion is a remake of a Korean film titled 301/302. The film compulsion is remake of a Korean film titled 301/302. The film details the relationship between two neighbors, Song-Hee a chef, and Yun-Hee an anorexic writer. After her divorce, Song-Hee moves in next door to Yun-Hee. Realizing she is an anorexic, Song-Hee begins to torment Yun-Hee by offering her food, eventually forcing it upon her violently.
Both women’s pasts are explored: Yun-Hee’s sexual abuse at the hands of her step-father, butcher by trade; Song-Hee’s dysfunctional marriage, her obesity, and finally the moment she cooks her husband’s dog and feeds it to him as an act of revenge.
The film ends as Yun-Hee offers her own body to be cooked and eaten. After her death and consumption, Yun-Hee is shown living happily in Song-Hee’s apartment as a spirit. The film is told in flashback, as Song-Hee is interviewed by a detective who is investigating Yun-Hee’s disappearance
Oh, thank you for this insight. This sounds definitely better than this movie. I put it on my Watch-List! Have you seen both movies? What are your thoughts on the remake?
It was a great movie! You just don’t understand allegory.
My dear, first of all, thank you for commenting. I am aware of what allegory is, and I appreciate it. But you are right about this movie, I don’t see it. So how about you enlighten me, I might change my mind! 😀