Despite being prolific in a number of genres, South Korean cinema is probably best known the world over for its thrillers. The execution, aesthetics and subject matters that the filmmakers of the country seem to come up with within this genre are often cream of the crop and thanks to their success, it has also become a genre of choice for many first-time directors as well. One such director is Jeong Ji-yeon, who also chose to write and direct, as her first feature, a thriller that works in more genres than one.
Se-ra is a news reader on a national broadcasting network who anchors the highly sought-after slot of the nightly news show. A few minutes before she's scheduled to go live one night, she gets a call offering a tip, wherein the caller, a young mother called Mi-so tells her that a man has broken into her house and is going to kill her, after having already killed her daughter. Mi-so insists that the reason she called Se-ra about this was because she wanted Se-ra, who she admires a lot, to be the one to report the news of her death. Disregarding it as a prank call at first, Se-ra decides to go to the address provided by Mi-so after her overbearing, overprotective mother So-jung tells her that this could be her chance to be a real anchor rather than someone who just reads lines off a teleprompter.
Sure enough, when Se-ra gets there, she finds both Mi-so and her daughter dead. She alerts the police and begins reporting the story, but when the police later declare it a murder-suicide case, she decides to investigate the story herself and goes back to the scene of the crime, where she meets psychiatrist In-ho, a man in whose professional care the deceased had left herself but who seems to be highly suspicious. When Se-ra starts seeing Mi-so's image everywhere, she decides to seek In-ho's help. However, the deeper she digs into the case, it seems Se-ra is bound to find a truth so shocking that she might not be ready for it.
For her debut, Jeong doesn't just limit herself to one genre. Though it is primarily a psychological thriller, the narrative has elements of a mystery and horror as well. The mystery, which takes up the majority of the first half, is neatly packed and interwoven with the necessary elements to make for an engaging viewing. While not an out-and-out horror, the feature does venture into that territory with a few effective sequences, including but not limited to the visions of Mi-so that the central character gets. Jump scares are used in a couple instances, but Jeong mercifully doesn't overdo them even when she had the scope to overindulge.
The psychological aspect of the mystery is perhaps the most interesting element here, even if the big reveal twist can be seen coming. To be fair to the feature, it doesn't really try too hard to hide it either, as there are sufficient crumbs scattered around right from near the start for the eagle-eyed and certainly for the genre fans to follow. It is the build-up leading up to and the aftereffects of the reveal that form the crux of psychological thriller that Jeong set out to make. The fact that despite the predictability of the twist, “The Anchor” still manages to fully engross the viewer until and well after the reveal is a major credit to Jeong as a director, as is her effortless mixing up of the genres which never really makes any events stand out like a sore thumb.
With the excellent trio of actors leading the way, the director has her work cut out as Chun Woo-hee, Lee Hye-young and Shin Ha-kyun put their best feet forward to provide the first-time director's work with some memorable performances. It would certainly be fair to say that the three help the feature reach bigger heights than it would otherwise have been at. Of these, the two actresses are easily the standout. Chun Woo-hee is an actress whose project choices are always interesting to follow and “The Anchor” proves to be yet another feather in her cap. Within Se-ra, she goes through a number of different roles – the composed newsreader, the scared but determined investigator, the concerned and often angry daughter, the cold wife, the jealous colleague and more – all of which she portrays with equal ease and success.
Lee Hye-young, who was seen last year in Hong Sang-soo's “In Front of Your Face” has a totally different role to the auteur's work, yet she gives an equally impactful interpretation of her character, her controlling, manipulative mother coming across genuinely scary. Shin Ha-kyun's In-ho is an unpredictable character, where Se-ra and indeed the audience too isn't sure if he's involved or genuinely a good professional and Shin manages to keep this mystery going through his unpredictable performance.
The cinematography and particularly the music combine to build and keep the mysterious mood intact but more than the technical merits, the success of “The Anchor” must be credited to first-time director Jeong Ji-yeon and her absolutely confident and sure-handed direction that practically makes no missteps, as well as the fantastic performances from its two actresses. This is a scary, shocking and thrilling work that makes its director one to definitely keep an eye out for in the future.
