The Wailing

The Wailing is a 2016 South Korean mystery-horror film written and directed by Na Hong-jin, whose earlier features are The Chaser (2008) and The Yellow Sea (2010). Its Korean title, Gokseong, is also the name of the rural county where the story unfolds; the title can mean "wailing" or "crying." Kwak Do-won plays Jong-goo, a bumbling local police officer, while Kim Hwan-hee plays his daughter Hyo-jin. The supporting cast includes Hwang Jung-min as the shaman Il-gwang, Chun Woo-hee as the enigmatic woman called Moo-myung, and Japanese actor Jun Kunimura as the stranger living in the mountains. The film runs 156 minutes and was released in South Korea on 12 May 2016. Jong-goo investigates a series of violent deaths and baffling illnesses that begin after the stranger's arrival. The dead are marked by severe rashes, and several victims attack relatives before dying. His early inquiry treats the reports as village gossip, but evidence at the stranger's home and the worsening condition of Hyo-jin force him to take the threat seriously. Hyo-jin develops a rash, speaks and behaves in disturbing ways, and is eventually subjected to an exorcism performed by Il-gwang. The ritual, staged amid drums, chanting, and the family's anxiety, is one of the film's central set pieces. Jong-goo must decide whether to trust Il-gwang, Moo-myung, or neither, as competing explanations of possession, disease, and deception emerge. Na structures the investigation so that clues repeatedly reverse their apparent meaning. Photographs, animal remains, religious objects, and testimony are presented without yielding a simple answer about the stranger or Moo-myung. The film draws on Korean shamanic practice and Catholic imagery, but it does not identify a single religious system as an uncomplicated solution. Its climax turns on a warning given to Jong-goo about when he may return home, making his decision especially consequential for Hyo-jin. The screenplay withholds definitive certainty for much of its running time, a choice that generated extensive discussion of the film's ending. Rather than ending with the police case resolved, it concentrates on the consequences for Jong-goo's family and on what several characters have misunderstood. The Wailing premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival in the festival's out-of-competition selection. It became South Korea's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, although it was not nominated. At the 2017 Asian Film Awards, Na Hong-jin won Best Director, and Kwak Do-won won Best Actor for performance as Jong-goo.