Thread of Lies is a weird one. After I finished watching it at the cinema, many people clapped, but afterwards it was apparent that not everyone liked it and some had only clapped out of peer pressure. Why was this? Well, the film begins with the suicide of high-school protagonist Man-ji's younger sister, Cheon-ji. Man-ji begins to wonder what brought her sister to kill herself, and sets out to find out why. Here is where the problem may lie for some: some of the audience thought they were going to watch a murder mystery, but in truth, Thread of Lies is anything but.
It's a heartfelt look at how Cheon-ji's death impacts and changes the people around her, even people who seem to have nothing to do with the actual plot. As Man-ji investigates her sister's death she meets the people whom Cheon-ji surrounded herself with. Despite her already being dead for the majority of the movie, there are numerous flashback scenes of conversations with her and the characters she meets. These flashback scenes subtly establish the personalities of each characters. Each line of dialogue tests how each character reacts to certain stimuli, and it all pulls violently at the heartstrings. The structure of the story is odd and slightly wonky; the titual "thread"" does not appear until the halfway mark, and the ending could be said to be a bit soft. Yet it brilliantly follows the various stages of grief. Surprisingly, not many films about loss actually do this.
There is another reviewer here who gave this film a 4/10, saying it was a complete and utter waste of time (if he is reading: wassup fellow Cinemagic attendee!). He called it a Japanese bootleg version of a movie based on 1000s of stories centering around loss, and that he was sure there was another movie like this in cinemas right now. Boy was I not happy to hear this. Firstly, the whole "Asain bootleg" term is racist and doesn't exemplify that you gave this film a fair review. Secondly, considering that you only guess that there is a film like Thread of Lies in cinemas right now, it is evident that you hadn't watched many, if any, films about loss, and as such this film is apparently similar to what you believe such a film would be like.
This film was also called out for apparently having quirkiness for the sake of it. The truth is, while there some sporadic events that were a bit silly, they never had an impact on the plot. For all you or I know, having not frequently watched Korean cinema, these could merely be tropes found in such films.
Overall, despite having slightly iffy pacing and a small amount of silly moments, Thread of lies is a wonderful reflection on how flawed characters react when having to face their actions. Almost all of the characters are impossible not to love due, because, as can be the way with humans, some are decent people who do bad things.
