If you are looking for a mix of dark comedy and suspense, The Scent (2012) might catch your eye. To be honest, I went into this film with low expectations. I’ve struggled with Park Si-yeon’s previous projects since Coffee House, but the promise of a thriller featuring the hilarious Lee Kwang-soo was enough to make me give it a chance.
While the film starts with a gripping premise, the final product is a bit of a mixed bag. As a +19 rated Korean movie, it features several lengthy nudity and sex scenes. For some viewers, this might be a draw, but for me, they felt largely unnecessary and out of place. The story had so much potential at the start that these interludes made the narrative feel flat. By the time the credits rolled, I couldn’t help but think that a shorter runtime would have prevented the plot from becoming as predictable as it did.
The Scent Synopsis: Adultery, Murder, and a Setup
The storyline revolves around Kang Sun-woo, an ex-detective turned private investigator specializing in adultery cases. Since private investigators occupy a legal gray area in Korea, his work isn’t exactly “steady,” though he makes a fortune from wealthy wives suspecting their husbands of cheating.
His life takes a dark turn when a beautiful woman named Kim Soo-jin hires him for a routine investigation. After tracking her husband to a hotel, Sun-woo drinks a beer and passes out. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a nightmare: a dead body is next to him, and he has no memory of what happened. With only two days left before he is set to return to the police force, he must investigate the murder while desperately hiding the fact that he was at the crime scene in the first place.
The Cast of The Scent
The film features a strong ensemble cast that manages to deliver solid performances despite the script’s flaws:
- Park Hee-soon as Kang Sun-woo
- Park Si-yeon as Kim Soo-jin
- Joo Sang-wook as Detective Han Gil-ro
- Kim Jung-tae as Detective Seo
- Lee Han-wi as Chief Detective Sa
- Lee Kwang-soo as Gi-poong
- Cha Soo-yeon as Hye-young
Final Thoughts: High Stakes, Flat Finish
The initial hook of The Scent is fantastic, and the cast does a great job with the material they are given. However, the tension eventually fizzles out. The thrilling elements that drive the first half begin to resolve themselves too easily, shifting the focus away from the mystery.
Ultimately, it’s a decent “popcorn movie”—fun to watch if you have nothing else to do, but it’s not a life-changing cinematic experience. It’s a stylish erotic thriller that starts with a bang but ends with a predictable whimper.
Check out the trailer for The Scent below:
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