The Medium (2021 film)

The Medium
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Banjong Pisanthanakun
Screenplay by	Chantavit Dhanasevi Na Hong-jin
Story by	Na Hong-jin Choi Cha-won
Produced by	Na Hong-jin Banjong Pisanthanakun
Starring	Narilya Gulmongkolpech Sawanee Utoomma Sirani Yankittikan Yasaka Chaisorn
Cinematography	Naruphol Chokanapitak
Edited by	Thammarat Sumethsupachok
Music by	Chatchai Ponhprapaphan
Production companies	GDH 559 Showbox Northern Cross
Distributed by	GDH 559 (Thailand) Showbox (South Korea)
Release dates	11 July 2021 (2021-07-11) (BIFAN) 14 July 2021 (2021-07-14) (South Korea) 28 October 2021 (2021-10-28) (Thailand)
Running time	130 minutes
Countries	Thailand South Korea
Languages	Thai Isan
Box office	US$7.23 million[1]

The Medium (Thai: ร่างทรง Rang Song, literally: Mediumship) is a 2021 Thai mockumentary^[2] supernatural horror film directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun and produced by Na Hong-jin. It is a co-production of Thailand's GDH 559 and South Korea's Showbox.^[3] The film was premiered at the 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival on 11 July 2021.^[4] It was theatrically released in South Korea on 14 July 2021.^[5] It was selected as the Thai entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards^[6] but was not nominated.

The film was adjudged as the best feature film at 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and was awarded with the Bucheon Choice Award for the best film.^[7] On the box office front as per Korean Film Council data, it is ranked 15th among all the films released in the year 2021 in South Korea, with gross of US$7.35 million and 831,126 admissions, as of 26 September 2021.^[8] It is the 6th highest-grossing Korean film of 2021.^[1]

Plot[]

A Thai documentary team travels to the northeast part of Thailand, Isan to document the daily life of a local medium, Nim, who is possessed by the spirit of Bayan, a local deity whom the villagers worship. Bayan is an ancestral God and has been possessing women in Nim's family for generations. The latest in the line of succession was Nim's sister, Noi. However, Noi did not wish to be a medium and turned to Christianity. The spirit of Bayan moved onto Nim and has been with her ever since.

While en route to the funeral of Noi's husband, Wiroj, Nim reveals misfortune always befall the men in Wiroj's family; his father's factory went bankrupt and he committed suicide after he was caught setting fire to the factory for insurance fraud; his son, Mac, died from a motorbike accident. Noi only has one daughter left, Mink, who does not believe in Shamanism and attends Church with her mother.

Mink's family and friends, as well as the documentary crew, notice Mink displaying strange and aggressive behaviors, along with displaying multiple personalities such as one of an old man, a drunkard, a child, and a prostitute. She starts to have strange dreams, hearing voices in her head, and experiences debilitating abdominal and vaginal pain. She is fired from her job after her boss catches her having sex with multiple men at work. Nim is initially convinced Bayan wishes Mink to succeed Nim, but Noi refuses to let Nim perform an Acceptance Ceremony to move Bayan's spirit onto her daughter.

Nim later starts to suspect Bayan is not actually involved. She discovers that Mink had an incestuous relationship with her late brother, Mac, and that he had not actually died from a motorbike accident but hanged himself. She concludes that Mac is trying to kill Mink and engages in a ceremony to convince Mac not to kill Mink. Meanwhile, after discovering Mink in the shower with her wrists slit, Noi is convinced Bayan is punishing Mink for Noi's refusal to be a successor and arranges for the Acceptance Ceremony to be performed by another shaman without Nim's knowledge. The acceptance ceremony fails and Nim realizes, too late, that Mac is also not involved. Mink's condition deteriorates after the ceremony and she bludgeons Noi with a camera from the crew. Nim goes up to the mountain to pray and is distressed when she discovers that someone has decapitated the statue of Bayan, a sign of mockery to a sacred idol.

Nim seeks help from her Shaman friend, Santi, and he tells her that Mink isn't just possessed by one spirit, but hundreds of spirits whom Wiroj's ancestors had beheaded. Santi explains that the Acceptance Ceremony has essentially made Mink a ready vessel for the spirits. Santi, Nim, and Santi's students prepare a ritual to exorcise Mink. In the days leading up to the ritual, Mink is seemingly possessed and haunts the family in various manners, such as boiling the family dog alive and eating it, eating raw meat from the fridge, and climbing into Noi's bed while she is asleep and taunting her. The day before the ritual, Nim passes away in her sleep under mysterious circumstances.

Santi proceeds with the ritual using Noi as a vessel. However, the ritual fails after Mink's aunt-in-law tears the sacred Yantra cloth keeping Mink locked up in her room, convinced that her son was locked inside with Mink. Chaos and violence soon follows as evil spirits begin to possess, they starts dancing maniacally and suddenly fight against each other, attacking and kill the Shaman, his students, and everyone involved in the ceremony, including the documentary crew, by stabbing, biting and consuming them alive. Bayan seemingly possessing Noi causes a brief respite, as Noi starts directing the surviving students to continue the ritual. She chants a prayer while touching Mink, but is distracted when she calls her mother, and eventually overwhelmed. The movie ends with Mink burning her mother alive whose screams can be heard as the camera focuses on a voodoo doll with needles protruding from it, labeled with the "Yasantia" Mink’s family name.

A mid-credits scene occurs during the day before Nim's death while preparing for the ritual. Nim is visibly frustrated as the preparations are not going well. She suffers a crisis of faith and confesses to questioning if Bayan had ever possessed her before breaking down off-screen.

Cast[]

• as Mink
• Sawanee Utoomma as Nim, a shaman and Mink's aunt
• Sirani Yankittikan as Noi, Nim's older sister and Mink's mother
• Yasaka Chaisorn as Manit, Nim’s older brother and Mink's uncle
• Boonsong Nakphoo as Santi, Nim's shaman friend

Production[]

The film was shot in Loei province (Loei) in North East (Isan) Thailand.^[9][10]

The film was announced in February 2021,^[3] and was scheduled for a July 2021 release in South Korea.^[11]

Release[]

The Medium is sold by Finecut for the upcoming European Film Market and the film's rights had been already acquired by The Jokers for future theatrical release in France,^[12] and by Koch Films to German-speaking territories.^[13] As of September, Shudder had acquired the overall streaming rights and it will stream in the US on October 14.^[14]

In Asia, the film has been licensed to Edko Films for Macau and Hong Kong (22 September 2021), MovieCloud for Taiwan (25 August 2021), Synca Creations for Japan, to Encore Films for Malaysia (2 December 2021) and Indonesia (20 October 2021), Golden Village for Singapore (12 August 2021), M Pictures for Cambodia (26 November 2021) and Laos and Lumix Media for Vietnam (19 November 2021).^[13]

The film was premiered on July 11, 2021, at the 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival,^[4] and it was released theatrically in South Korea on July 14, 2021.^[5]

Home media[]

The film was made available for streaming and broadcasting in South Korea on IPTV, Skylife, HomeChoice cable TV, KT Seezn and others from September 16, 2021.^[15]

Reception[]

Box office[]

The film was released on 14 July 2021, on 1403 screens.^[1] According to the integrated computer network for movie theater admissions by the Korea Film Council (KoFiC), the film ranked at first place at the Korean box office on opening day by collecting 129,917 audiences, surpassing the audiences of Black Widow. On the 4th day of release it became the highest-grossing film in the horror genre by surpassing US$2.67 million gross. The cumulative audience of the film stands at 403,019 as on 17 July 2021.^[16]

According to Korean Film Council (KOFIC) data, it is at 6th place among all the Korean films released in the year 2021, with gross of US$7.32 million and 831,126 admissions, as of 26 September 2021.^[1]

Critical response[]

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 77% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 6.60/10.^[17]

Jo Yeon-kyung of JTBC Entertainment News rated the film with 4 out of 5 stars and wrote that the film has a dense narrative, and the sequences of worship and scenes of exorcism are combined with Thailand's unique culture to generate newness. Describing the scary parts of the film, Yeon-kyung wrote, "The scariest thing is that the closer you get to the ending, the more you are getting used to the huge scene unfolding before your eyes. Of course, the level of understanding and impact may vary depending on the individual audience."^[18]

Seo Jeong-won writing for Maeil Business praised the performance of Narilya Gunmong Konket and opined, "I am so immersed in acting that I have to worry about the trauma that can occur." Warning the audience about some portions of the film which showed cannibalism, animal cruelty, self-harm, and incest, Jeong-won wrote that they be careful as they might find it cruel. But in Jeong-won's opinion those were essential to narrative.^[19]

Kong Rithdee gave the film a positive review in the Bangkok Post, praising its use of Thai folklore with the visual and narrative resemblance to South Korea thrillers.^[20]

Choi Young-joo of CBS No Cut News wrote that the film directed in the form of found footage, has documentary character. Writing about the shamanic beliefs of the Isan region that not only humans but also everything in nature has a soul. Any action committed by ancestors became a curse and was passed down to the posterity, in context of the film it is the character Ming. Young-joo with respect to that belief wrote, "The Medium is a movie that makes you experience with your whole body that there are horror movies because there are human beings." Young-joo pointing out that in the film all the evils that humans can commit were in some way described, and albeit it was shown to portray human evil, but it did come to mind as to how far and how it would be shown.^[21]

Variety praised the film's musical score, production design, and its references to Thai culture, but criticised its length and the mockumentary format.^[22]

Accolades[]

See also[]

• List of submissions to the 94th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
• List of Thai submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
• Thai horror

References[]

External links[]

• The Medium at IMDb
• The Medium at Naver (in Korean)
• The Medium at the Korean Movie Database