Princess Aurora
Princess Aurora
| 27 October 2005 (USA)
Princess Aurora Trailers

A woman gets killed in a department store. No one imagines this could lead to serial murders, but two days after the first murder, another homicide occurs. A woman is suffocated to death and the only evidence left at the crime scene is a sticker of the cartoon character “Princess Aurora”.

Reviews
Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.
Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
chicagopoetry For all it has going for it--the potential for a good twist, a unique combination of being a vigilante film and being a detective on the scent of a serial killer film, a plot concerning a woman getting revenge upon some real sleazoids that could have reached I Spit On Your Grave or Stiletto proportions, some great cinematography with a dark atmosphere, and an eerie Sybil split personality ending--Princess Aurora nevertheless ends up missing the mark. It's flaw is that is is not very suspenseful. Perhaps something is lost in translation in the captioned version, but nevertheless, the acting is not very emotional, the murder scenes, although unique, don't come as any surprise, and the plot quickly becomes transparent and predictable. For all the good ideas it has, it still just goes through the motions with only one or two true startles.
darkmax For those of you that like the amount of cruelty and bloodshed in Lady Vengeance, this film will seem subtle.The acting of the female lead is convincing enough to warrant the 106 minutes of it.At first, the movie seemingly revolves around a young woman who kills mercilessly for justice. However, as the story continues, her actions became methodical and preempted. Only at the very end of the story do we actually get to know the angst, grief and pain that forced her into such a state of mind.This movie, although Korean, also reflects on the other Asian societies where wealth, materialism and self-centredness are overshadowing the importance of kindness and virtue.
rsl39 In an interview with cine21 magazine director Pang Eun-jin refers to her film Princess Aurora as "a melodrama, and a very dark one at that." Unfortunately, too many people have been fixated on comparing it (often unflatteringly) to Park Chan-wook's Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. The two films have very little in common, in fact. Pang's film is a movie about grief, and the actions of the lead character are more representations of that overwhelming grief than they are about getting even. There's none of the emphasis on careful plotting and methodical execution that we get in Lady Vengeance-- just a series of seemingly unconnected crimes. In this sense, the film is more like Hitchcock's Marnie, or Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black than it is like Park's film. Indeed, the sequence in the hospital seems to be a clear reference to Truffaut's film version of the Cornell Woolrich novel. The performances in the film are all first rate, and the single flashback sequence toward the end of the film (the flashback that explains the motivations for the lead character's actions) is both heartbreaking and horrifying. Princess Aurora is a commentary on Korean society (e.g., the position of women in Korean society, Korean society's view of children, etc.), not a simple story of revenge. Where Park's film is a overwhelming and spectacular, Pang's film is quiet and thoughtful--the type of film that will leave viewers capable of appreciating its subtle style thinking for some time. It is an underrated masterpiece.
mrswizz Okay, so as a fan of the Korean cinema look I brought Princess Aurora... and I have to say that I was VERY impressed. It is a difficult film to watch at times, and it does take a while for the film to get going.I'm not going to put in any spoilers but if you do not want to know anything at all about the film please just accept that it is worth it and stop reading.Im trying not to sound to geeky but imagine if David Mamet (glengarry glen ross, Ronin) wrote for chan Wook Park (old boy, lady vengeance) and you would know what I mean.OK, so half an hour into the film I thought it was just another murder film, but it really is so much more.It is not perfect by any means. the police seem clumsy at times and the film gel as well as it could, but this is all for a reason, and that reason is shown in the 20 minute finale which is better than anything Hollywood can do. It is the type of ending that has you literally hiding behind a cushion one minute, then jumping up and cheering the next.If you liked lady vengeance or dark water, this is a film for you, if you like good cinema that makes you think then again this is a good movie for you.Park may be the fashionable director at the moment, and rightly so if you have seen his films, but Eun-jin Bang who directed this film is definitely one to look out for. Also, you should watch this before Hollywood remakes it, which no doubt it will at some point.I just liked the movie, and I hope more people give it a go.