Film Review: I’M A CYBORG, BUT THAT’S OK (2006)

Original Title: Ssaibogeujiman gwaenchanha

Director: Chan-wook Park
Writers: Chan-wook Park, Seo-Gyeong Jeong
Running time: 105 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
UK Release date: 4^th April 2008

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 31^st January 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I had never heard of this South Korean film before and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I found it very charming with some great subtle use of CGI to illustrate the inner thoughts of the main characters. I know there are a few out there that fear the subtitle and for those I’m afraid your worst fears may be realised… It does have subtitles. For me, not usually a problem, but I did struggle to follow the plot at the beginning, it soon settled down though and easy reading from then on. I’ll give you my thoughts after this brief summary.

Young woman, Cha Young-goon has been sent to a mental institution. Her grandmother had been sent into care sometime earlier and, it seems, this had tipped her over the edge. She keeps it a secret, but she believes she is a Cyborg and she has to rescue her grandmother. In order to do that though, she must relieve herself of all thoughtfulness, sympathy…etc. She is befriended by Park Il-sun, another patient who has a habit of stealing things. The staff becomes worried about Young-goon when she refuses to eat. They lock her away but Il-sun has fallen in love with her and may be able to help her. I will leave it there or the Spoiler Police will be fitting cybernetic implants to me (again).

I love the subtle use of CGI in this film, you can tell a lot of hard work and imagination has been applied to make it look so good. It’s a film full of interesting characters and great performances, but the two that stood out were Su-jeong Lim as Cha Young-goon and Rain as Park Il-sun. Both were really excellent, particularly Su-jeong Lim, her performance was quite stunning.

This is a very engaging and charming film with lots of subtle plot twists that keep the audience guessing. It is essentially a love story, but one with a difference and one that (I hope) others will enjoy as much as I did. Great acting, great direction and great production, although it’s not altogether perfect; I’ve already mentioned the slightly confusing beginning; I still enjoyed it very much though. It’s another of a growing number of South Korean films I am discovering and long may it continue… Recommended.

My score: 7.7/10

IMDb Score: 7.0/10 (based on 8,808 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0497137/

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 90/100 (based on 10 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 80/100 (based on 11,824 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/im_a_cyborg_but_thats_ok/#

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Park Il-sun: Psycho.
Cha Young-goon: I'm not a psy-cho. I'm a cy-borg.

Cha Young-goon: Mom, I think I'm a cyborg.
Young-goon's mother: ...What is that?
Cha Young-goon: I think it's kind of... like a robot?
Young-goon's mother: ...Have you missed your period? Because you're a 'sy-bor'?

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: THIRST [Bakjwi] (2009)

Co-Writer/Director: Chan-wook Park
Running time: 133 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Fantasy/Horror/Drama
UK Release date: 16^th October 2009 (Limited)

Watched on DVD Wednesday 16^th November 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I must admit I hadn’t heard much about this film before seeing it. I had seen Chan-wook Park’s film Oldboy [2003] beforehand so I had some ideas about style and knew there was a fair chance of subtitles (yes, there are subtitles). I must admit I’m fast becoming a fan of Park’s work, this was every bit as good, if not better, than many vampire movies I’ve seen before (the one exception being the excellent Tomas Alfredson film, Let the Right One In [2008]). It’s funny how non-English speaking filmmakers are so much better at this genre… But more of my nonsense later, here is a very brief summary first.

When a priest, Sang-hyeon, selflessly volunteers for a vaccine development project he could not have predicted the outcome. He gets infected and is transfused with the blood of a vampire. Of course this results in him becoming one himself. Trying to remain true to his faith is hard enough, but it gets more difficult when he finds himself attracted to the wife of one of his parishioners, Kang-woo. The woman in question, Tae-ju, is an orphan who was brought up by Kang-woo’s mother, Lady Ra. It turns out Tae-ju has similar feelings to the priest and he is finding it harder each day to resist both his feelings for Tae-ju and the thirst he has for human blood. I will leave it there or the Spoiler Police will be withholding my blood-ration again.

Beautifully made with some great effects, both physical and CGI. I also loved the dialogue; the language is very direct and to the point and I like that. Great performances all round, particularly from; Kang-ho Song as Priest Sang-hyeon, Ok-bin Kim as Tae-ju, Hae-sook Kim as Lady Ra, Ha-kyun Shin as Kang-woo and In-hwan Park as Priest Noh.

There was quite a bit more humour in this one than I was expecting, mostly provided by Ha-kyun Shin as Kang-woo. This didn’t detract too much from the more serious love story that evolves on the screen though. I found it interesting in that you never quite know which way the plot is going to turn, and there are quite a few surprises on the way. I must admit I loved the ending, I found it quite touching whilst at the same time a very neat way to tie it up (sorry, no clues). Over all a very entertaining and quite a thought-provoking film with some unexpected turns along the way… Highly recommended for any fan of the genre.

My Score: 8.4/10

IMDb Score: 7.2/10 (based on 12,388 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0762073/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 82/100 (based on 105 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10011304-thirst/

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
None available…

LINKS:
Official Site: http://focusfeatures.com/film/thirst/
Trailer:

Film Review: OLDBOY (2003)

Director: Chan-wook Park
Running time: 120 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

UK release date: 15th October 2004

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 7th August 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is a South Korean film, yes, one of those with subtitles I’m afraid. I had heard very little about it before viewing, apart from a small synopsis, which didn’t even mention it was in Korean! The setting in modern South Korea where a man has been arrested for being drunk.

We begin in the police station where a very drunk man, Oh Dae-su is behaving quite badly. So bad, in fact that the police end up chaining him to the wall. Eventually his brother arrives to bail him out and we next see them in the rain at a phone box. Oh Dae-su is on the phone to his daughter, whose birthday it is, and he is telling her about the present he has bought for her. He passes the phone to his brother who talks for a moment and then turns to find Dae-su gone. We next see him in a room with a heavy, prison style metal door with a slot to pass food through at the bottom. He hears music and then gas is pumped into the room and he passes out. When he awakes, the room has been tidied and his hair has been cut. This continues for fifteen years, during which time he writes a journal where he lists all those he could have wronged in the past. When he is eventually released he makes his way to a sushi restaurant where he meets Mi-do, a girl with whom he falls in love despite the large difference in their ages. Dae-su now sets about finding out who locked him up for so long and, more importantly, why? And that is where I’ll leave my short synopsis; don’t want to give too much away.

This is a really well made film with a great score by Seung-hyun Choi and Ji-soo Lee. There is some great imagery used throughout and, although used sparingly, the special effects were excellent also. A really great performance by Min-sik Choi as Dae-su Oh and honourable mentions also go to Ji-tae Yu as Woo-jin Lee and Hye-jeong Kang as Mi-do.

Although I found this film a little long, I found it quite enjoyable to watch. As I’ve already said, the imagery used is very clever in places and the plot moves along at a nice pace. The story always keeps the audience guessing although I thought the pay-off at the end didn’t have quite the dramatic impact it could have. Having said that, it’s still well worth watching. Recommended.

My score: 7.7/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/
Official Site: Oldboy Official Site
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/screenplay/vi3130917145/