Director Kim Tae-joon’s Netflix Korean thriller, Wall to Wall, builds up its momentum as a psychological thriller in the first half of the movie and uses topical themes like class conflict, the futility of the capitalist rat race, identity, and isolation to showcase the vapidity of the aspirations of modern urban youth. The second half of the movie exposes the rot of a decaying system by bringing the inner turmoil and simmering frustration of the characters out in the open—as a primal lawlessness reigns in a display of grotesque violence. For a movie that focuses on the torment of the psyche to shape its narrative, the series of deaths that follows in the third act might feel a bit jarring, but all the deaths have their own significance in the context of the narrative and characterization.
Spoiler Alert
Death of the Tenant of the 13th Floor
The middle-aged woman who resided on the 13th floor initially appears as a menacing presence in Woo-seong’s life; things escalate as, from a nagging neighbor, she and her husband quickly turn into malicious individuals who can go to any extent to get what they want. At some point, the narrative made viewers believe that the 13th-floor tenant couple was responsible for Woo-seong’s life slipping further down the abyss, but eventually the truth is revealed, which reveals their predicament as not too different from Woo-seong’s after all. It was pretty evident from the lady’s appearance that she was going through a tough phase mentally, but the reality of her situation was not evident until Woo-seong and Jin-ho broke into her apartment. The unpaid bills and documents detailing mounting loan payments and taxes portray a picture of exasperated parents who have become trapped by the allure of a better life and don’t want to compromise with the upbringing of their sensitive children. There is a class conflict present in this situation, as the tenants who live on rent feel looked down upon by the ones who have bought their apartments, being oblivious that the majority of them are on the same leaking boat.
Much like Woo-seong, the 13th-floor tenants were beguiled by both Jin-ho and Eun-hwa. While Eun-hwa and her partner, Jun-ho, tricked them with the nefarious plan of profiteering from the tenants’ financial instability by buying their apartment at a cheaper rate, Jin-ho betrayed their trust by promising to arrange an extended lease on their rent in exchange for harassing Woo-seong. The disappointing state of modern urban fragmented existence becomes apparent from the way Woo-seong and the 13th-floor tenants go at each others’ throats, without ever realizing that they are suffering similarly and are being played at the same time. The 13th-floor lady confronts Jin-ho when her husband accidentally hurts himself while faking an injury; unfortunately, she couldn’t have imagined what a vile monster this journalist truly was. Jin-ho kills her by bashing her head in with a hammer and later sets up her corpse in her apartment in a way that indicates she has taken her own life. This is a horrible spectacle for Woo-seong, who has to act as an accomplice to Jin-ho to ensure his survival, as Woo-seong realizes the futility of his past conflicts with the lady and the similarity between his present situation and what she’d been going through. It remains unknown what happened to the husband and their two children; needless to say, their lives too are ruined forever.
Death of Eun-hwa and Jun-ho
Eun-hwa and her husband/partner-in-crime, Jun-ho, represent the upper echelon of society, who feel no remorse about exercising their power for selfish reasons, even if it means preying on the vulnerable. As a former prosecutor, Eun-hwa blocked the case of real estate corruption that the undercover journalist Jin-ho had built by putting his own life on the line. Eun-hwa took bribes from real estate moguls of the country in exchange for letting the real estate syndicate operate as usual and used the corruption to her advantage by luring in aspiring, gullible tenants in the poorly constructed apartment complex. The affluent couple have sold their morals and ethics by being overwhelmed with limitless greed, which ultimately becomes the reason for their undoing. At the end, Jin-ho kills both of them during the climactic showdown, but that doesn’t put even a dent in undoing the machination that empowers the system to exploit the downtrodden.
Jin-ho’s Death
The undercover investigative journalist Jin-ho’s vengeful quest of exposing Eun-hwa ruined not only his own life but also the lives of Woo-seong and the tenants of the 13th floor as well. Once an honest, driven journalist, Jin-ho gave in to his darker instincts after failing to expose the prevalent real estate corruption, and his vindictive mind wiped any shred of ethics, integrity, or conscience one would expect from a journalist. The way Jin-ho violates the privacy of the tenants by spying on them, just to exploit them in order to use them as pawns, makes him as crooked as, if not worse than, the likes of Eun-hwa. Jin-ho’s drive was never directed at exposing the truth; it’s just an attempt by him to justify his bloody, murderous trail and psychopathic tendencies. To some extent, Jin-ho is a product of the system, which covers up deceits, conspiracies, and lies; takes away the voice of reason; and ends up breeding a monster like this journalist in question. It can be argued that Woo-seong’s horrible experiences turned him into a self-serving creature like Jin-ho to some extent. He could have exposed Eun-hwa by taking the ledger to the authorities; instead, he chose to kill Jin-ho by destroying the penthouse by staging a gas leak explosion in order to save his own skin.
Out of all the characters who perished, the death of the resident of the 13th floor feels a bit tragic and evokes sympathy. The rest of the bunch got what they deserved. These deaths could have changed Woo-seong’s worldview—making him realize the absolute pointlessness of chasing behind his vapid aspirations, he could have remained content in starting a new life in his family home in Namhae village. However, he has gone too far down the road to take a step back and set a new course; there is no hope for him—something he himself recognizes, as is evident from his final maniacal laugh during the final moments of the movie.
