‘Nervous’ Review: An Enigmatic Mystery Which Requires You To Fill In The Blanks [FrightFest]

The opening film of this year’s FrightFest was Nervous, a deep and moving psychological horror drama from director Abner Pastoll (Road Games, A Good Woman Is Hard to Find), who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Richard Hobley. If you are paranoid about losing your hearing, Nervous is certainly a film that will chill you to the bone.

The film begins with an American woman named Sarah (Sarah Bolger) and her South Korean partner, Sungsoo (Sungsoo Yune), travelling to a remote South Korean house for a retreat. After finding an old record player in the attic and trying it out, Sarah soon finds it difficult to understand male voices, and she begins to question her own sanity as a result. The doctors she sees insist that she is fine, which further leads Sarah to question if she is losing her grip on reality.

Bolger does a brilliant job of depicting Sarah’s vulnerability as the character desperately struggles to find an answer to her predicament, while also showcasing Sarah’s inner perseverance as she struggles to abandon hope. Since Sarah is an investigative journalist, she resolves to get to the bottom of the mystery, even though she probably already realizes that she will not like what she finds. As a character, Sarah is strong and determined, despite her sanity coming into question, and Bolger manages to balance both Sarah’s inner strength and turmoil with equal believability. There is also a scene where Sarah struggles to keep her cool after overhearing two South Korean women, who clearly do not know she can understand them, discussing her in a restaurant, and anyone who has overheard people talking about them behind their back will certainly resonate with Sarah’s frustration at this moment.

Yune also does his best as Sungsoo, who tries to be patient and understanding, despite the fact that he is clearly at his wits’ end because Sarah mysteriously does not hear him. It is clear from early on that Sarah’s relationship with Sungsoo is troubled, and Sarah’s affliction only makes things worse. Therefore, Nervous could be seen as an examination of how patience and understanding are vital in order for relationships to work, with Sarah and Sungsoo’s struggling romance no doubt serving as a grim reminder of this. While the couples’ neighbor Eunbyeol (played by , who is known for her collaborations with Oscar-winner Bong Joon Ho) soon begins to form a deep friendship with Sarah, which may or may not be leading to something else, with Asung delivering a standout performance as an understanding friend who possibly has an agenda.