Vivekmaru45 South Korea is Rank #1 in the black comedy genre, and this superb film proves this point.The setting of the film, a picturesque countryside setting, the homely looking lodge and the average South Korean family struggling to make ends meet in a new venture, is superb.Add to this a terrific script by writer-director Kim Ji-woon. And incidentally this was his FIRST FEATURE FILM DEBUT.The acting is top notch, all the characters have their own quirky traits and the incidences in the film just continue to get magnanimous...Is there a moral to this film? I think there is! Its for you to find out dear viewer.Plot: An extended family has moved from the city (presumably Seoul) to live in a large house out in the mountains, which they convert into a lodge for hikers. Consisting of a middle aged father Kang Dae-Goo (Park In-Hwan), mother Jeong Soon-Ryae (Na Moon-Hee), Dae-Goo's younger brother Kang Chang-Goo (played by Choi Min-sik), and their adult children Kang Young-Min (played by Song Kang-ho), Kang Mi-Soo (Lee Yoon-Seong) and Kang Mina (played by Go Ho-Kyung) they suffer a string of misfortunes as various patrons come to stay.Their first guest, a hiker, asks for a room and three beers. Left to himself, he spends the night forging his room key holder to be sharp enough to stab himself and is found dead the next morning. The father of the family decides on burying the body in the woods, under the assumption that no one would believe this to be a suicide. Later, a young couple drops in for a stay to have sex in the privacy of their room and end up dead together the next morning. A pair of friends from town stop by for drinks until one of the men falls for Mi-Soo and subsequently attempts to rape her, but she is saved by Young-Min, who accidentally ends up pushing the man off a cliff, while his friend is taken captive by the family to prevent him from calling the police.Mr. Park, the benefactor of the family (providing them the house) later asks for their lodging for his younger (and illegitimate) half sister to have a hit-man check into the neighboring room at midnight and murder her so he can be the only successor to claim inheritance of the soon profitable land. Uninformed of the plan, Uncle Kang senses foul play and sends the half sister home to Seoul when she is found to be restless. The plan goes further awry when the hit-man arrives fifteen minutes late, and the room had been taken by an undercover cop investigating the recent string of missing people, mistaken to be the hit-man. The hit-man thus ends up killing the cop instead, and later gets killed by a suspicious Young-Min.A heavy rainstorm overnight nearly uncovers the buried corpses by morning, leaving the family no choice but to incinerate them. When uncle returns from the trip to Seoul, he angers Dae-Goo who had hoped to settle Mr. Park's plot without any trouble. A fight ensues as uncle is beaten senseless but is saved from a blow to the head by Young-Min who then trips, hitting his head on the stairs, he is whisked to the hospital, leaving the elderly parents the only ones left to finish the job. The local man, having been imprisoned, bound and gagged, tries to make his escape but gets his ropes tangled in several trees as he escapes the lodge.Soon enough, Mr. Park drops in unannounced to check if his sister-in-law has been terminated as planned, but is in complete shock when he sees Mr. Kang and Mrs. Jeong carrying the corpse of the undercover cop, knowing that he wasn't the hit-man. A brief struggle begins when Mr. Park tries to escape without trying to figure out just what exactly has happened, and ends after he accidentally falls to his death down the stairs, adding yet another body to be done away with for the family.To drive away attention, Mrs. Jeong switches off the circuits throughout the lodge and outside storage where she and her husband are piling the corpses, dousing them in gasoline. Mina, trying to watch TV, asks for Uncle Kang to switch the circuits back on, inadvertently causing a socket in the storage to burst in flames, triggering the cremation fire prematurely, trapping the parents inside. Meanwhile, Young-Min is in the hospital recovering from his concussion and laughing insanely over a news report on the shooting of a North Korean agent wandering through the forest.After an uncertain amount of time later, Uncle Kang, Young-Min, Mi-Soo, and Mina are preparing to serve dinner, totally unaware of the fire in the storage building. The parents return, in bandages, having survived the fire. Without a single word, the family quietly has dinner until there is a sudden knock at the door. Unsure of what to do, they all stand quietly in the doorway of the dining room, waiting for whoever is at the door to go away. When the dog starts barking at the knocking, the family, in unison hushes the dog; they have become the quiet family.The film ends with a wide shot of the lodge in winter, with Mina outside, looking at it, and then to the camera with an uncertain look on her face; all to the sound of The Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You".Verdict: Just BUY IT!!! P.S: I also recommend you see I Saw The Devil(2010) and A Tale of Two Sisters(2003) both directed by Kim Ji-woon.

gothic_a666 'The Quiet Family's' concept is better known in Miike's remake which is a shame because while the Japanese counterpart is a masterpiece in its own right the original movie needs not be compared; it stands as a pearl of dark comedy. The mood is full of suspense as the Kang family is visited by misfortune upon misfortune. Morbid humor sets the tone of a very tight story and some typical comic tropes are adapted to fit the overall feeling of stress as things get out of control. The cinematography is understated but highly competent with an emphasis on indoor scenes that add to the claustrophobia of the situation.Off beat and tense, the movie's aesthetics are close to the noir genre. It never degenerates into nonsense territory and much of its entertainment value resides on how believable the characters' reactions are. This quiet family systematically makes the wrong choice that of course leads to further complications but the entire insanity is understandable and made more hilarious for that. A grim fatalism pervades everything as if for all their mistakes the Kangs are indeed cursed.On top of the freak deaths, the scrambling for hiding dead bodies, the crossing the line into crime, the movie is true to its title: a portrait of a family that would rather live in peace. Their struggle for keeping their both their livelihood and quiet walks a very thin line as far as morals go but the family unit is so tightly knit that somehow overrides this. The finale brings this home in a simple and effective manner. Cleverly plotted and with solid performances all around, 'The Quiet Family' should be seen by anyone willing to be amused by something different.

J. M. Verville Lately, a lot of people have been getting into Korean cinema and enjoying the fact that they have made some absolutely amazing films as recently (Chingoo, JSA, Failan, etc.). However, this film is definitely not one of them. I was sorely disappointed; it did not seem to have the wit and spunk that was injected into Korean film as of late. You can definitely tell that the real foundation for this film is not Korean, but rather ... Koreans copying the Japanese. That is why I would like to pose the question to those involved in the production of this film -- why did you make this mistake? The story, the portrayal, the acting, the cinematography... All of it... Not worthy of watching. A poor job all-around, and poor results only to show for it. The Korean-style that you normally see in Korean cinema is obviously missing, and nothing in the film even begins to make up for it.If you want to see Korean film, and enjoy Korean cinema, this is not the film for you to watch. I would tell all people to happily skip over it -- this is not Korean cinema, this is something else.

mindless_junk The storyline: A Korean family bought a lodging hotel for bargain basement prices in a desolated location. Hotel guests were hard to come by but when the first guest finally arrived, he committed suicide. More guests started to show up... but things did not turn out the way they were hoping... A classic case of be careful what you wish for, because it may actually come true in unexpected ways...Think of this as Korean version of the "Addams Family". This movie is a showcase of dark humor while several parallel subplots are going on. I especially like the acting of the youngest daughter Mi-na, her looks and mannerism epitomize the dark humor of the entire movie.Not the funniest movie to come out from the Korea movie industry in recent years, but nonetheless quite enjoyable for those who like dark humor movies like Beetlejuice or Addams Family.