Synopsis
A story of two women who tried to confront head on the injustice oppressing women but frustrated before the iron wall of reality, < Tails You Win, Heads You Lose > has a similar basic plot as < Thelma and Louise > but the latter half of the film surprises those who expect another < Thelma and Louise >. Two women from two very different backgrounds-Maya from a poor family and Cora from an affluent one-are close friends. When Maya shoots and kills her brother who was trying to rape Cora, the two women's fate becomes one. Disillusioned with married life, Maya shows up at Cora? house with her son. Contrary to the outward marital bliss, Cora, too, is unhappy with her oppressive husband. Now, the two women's struggle to break out of their stifling reality begins. The camera is almost immobile for most part of the film, as if the immobility itself is yet another expression of the inner feelings of the two women who are imprisoned in their daily routine. The narrative moves fast, as if linked by montages, through Maya's recollection; but only after the last scene, are we given the chance to ruminate on the film's journey (or Maya's journey). And the film puts the question: What would you do in her shoes? < Tails You Win, Heads You Lose > is based on the novel by German best-seller author Ingrid Noll, whose novel < Die Apothekerin > was also made into a movie in 1997, which was both critically acclaimed and successful. (KANG Sung-ryul)