Jiseul

O Muel's Jiseul (South Korea, 2012) - Re-creating a 1948 massacre of civilians by the South Korean army on that nation's Jeju Island, "Jiseul" uses disconnected images in pristine monochrome to tell a story that's as hazy and haunting as a half-forgotten nightmare. As if struggling to come to terms with the inhumanity he depicts, helmer-scribe O Muel employs film vocabulary of considerable formal beauty and emotional restraint, but doesn't add enough narrative clarity to turn his chronicle of a little-known event into the powerful historical indictment it should be. Bela Tarr apostles may see a kindred spirit in this fest-bound item, which garnered four awards at Busan before its Sundance bow. 2012BUS, 2013ROTsp, 2013SUN. RATING: 3.