I'm a Cyborg, But that's Okay: Film Review

Korean Romantic Comedy from Director Park Chan-wook

Mar 20, 2009

A.k.a Saibogujiman Kwenchana, could the creator of the highly acclaimed Vengeance trilogy pull off a radical change of direction? Of course he could.

There’s no question that most romantic comedies can be as formulaic as slasher films, with scenes of embarrassing attempts at winning over the opposite sex and inevitably heartfelt unions being as commonplace as an axe to the head – with the latter option often seeming like a good idea after yet another Pretty Woman or whatever.

Formulaic, however, is one thing that JSA & Oldoy director Park Chan-wook isn’t and I’m a Cyborg was never going to resort to funny animals or impressing the in-laws for laughs.

Plot Synopsis

Instead, Cyborg is the story of Cha Young-goon (Lim Su-jeong), a disturbed girl from a disturbed family, who insists that she’s a cyborg. So Young-goon is admitted to an asylum, carrying with her her grandmother’s dentures, which she uses to strike up conversations with the vending machine or the hospital lights.

Young-goon’s attention soon turns to inmate Park Il-soon (Jung Ji-hoon a.k.a Rain), as he purports to be a thief capable of stealing personality traits from other inmates. Young-goon wants Il-soon to steal her sense of sympathy, so that she can do what any moral cyborg must do and kill all the “white ‘uns”, i.e: orderlies.

Of more immediate concern is that Young-goon refuses to eat, instead relying on licking batteries to provide energy. As it becomes clear that she’ll die if not treated, only Il-soon might provide the solution that escapes the doctors.

Cyborg Summary

This reviewer is still relatively new to the field of Korean cinema, but odds are that one of these articles should have covered a poorly made, scripted, or performed South Korean film. The search – and Korea’s near-perfect track record - continues.

We should know what to expect by now from one of the very best film-makers on the planet, so let’s run through the list.

Great direction? Check. Captivating script? Check. Perfect editing and cinematography? Check. Brilliant cast and performances? Check. Engaging music score? Check. Not a weakness to be found then in a film full of inventiveness, metaphor and charm.

Okay, so the more austere watcher might think Chan-wook has made light of what are, after all, incredibly debilitating disorders, and the script received a ‘luke warm’ response from psychiatric experts as to the plausibility of it’s exhibition of madness. Chan-wook nonetheless persevered, and rightly so.

This was clearly never meant to be a Memento or Cuckoo’s Nest, instead being predominantly made as a present for Chan-wook’s 12-year-old daughter.

What the psychological experts might not have appreciated, however, is a particular stroke of genius in the storytelling – even if it seems to have been unintentional on Chan-wook’s part, who confessed he did little research into the subject.

Many disorders – especially schizophrenia - are qualified not as having thought processes which shouldn’t occur, but rather as thoughts not kept in a natural balance within normal processes of the brain. In other words, thoughts that are ordinarily limited by other factors have, in disordered minds, an unbounded and uncontrollable influence.

This is seen working en masse amidst the film’s many characters, with no boundaries to keep each individual’s psychosis from flowing seamlessly into the next (especially highlighted by Il-soon’s ability to steal aspects of other inmates’ deranged state). This gives the dialogue a unique sense of method in it’s madness and brings a great camaraderie to the cast.

Lim Su-jeong and Rain Lead the Cyborg Cast

Speaking via a translator at the Korean Film festival in London, 2007 (included with the DVD release), Chan-wook states that lead actress Lim Su-jeong is his favourite…ever. That’s quite an endorsement, but an easily agreeable one.

Lim Su-jeong appeared in Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters as Su-mi, for which she won a Blue Dragon best new actress award and was nominated for best actress, for Cyborg, at the Asian Film Awards. She’s nothing short of fantastic throughout this film, hilarious and moving and somehow very convincing despite the madcap nature of the film.

Equally brilliant is newcomer Jung Ji-hoon - a mega-star in Asia as a singer/dancer. According to Chan-wook, Ji-hoon often performed at Award ceremonies where he could meet directors, because he wanted to be a film-star. His good looks convinced Chan-wook that he’d bring in the female audience.

More importantly, the fella can act and clearly brought an abundance of enthusiasm to a great part. He won a Best New actor award for his efforts and surely has as bright a future in film as his female co-star.

A special mention should also go to Oh Dal-su. He played the unfortunate Mr. Park in Oldboy, also featuring in Lady Vengeance as well as Jee-woon’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird and A Bittersweet Life, amongst many others, and brings nothing but good things to his roles.

Here Dal-su is an inmate who is so excessively polite that he only walks backwards and believes himself responsible for anything that goes wrong. He joins a supporting cast each of which pull their weight as characters with manifold layers to their madness.

I’m a Cyborg at the Box Office and Park Chan-wook’s Thirst

Cyborg topped the Korean Box Office for just one week before it fell sharply, receiving highly mixed reviews. That’s just madness in itself, because the film is deeply creative, highly entertaining, very touching and will probably be the only romantic comedy this reviewer ever covers.

In the meantime, Park Chan-wook is taking his latest feature through post-production, promising to be his darkest film to date (which is difficult to imagine). Thirst, however, is his first full-blown foray into horror (Hoorah!) and will be focused on vampires. Salivating much? More on that as it comes to light.

The copyright of the article I'm a Cyborg, But that's Okay: Film Review in Asian Films is owned by Michael Pantazi. Permission to republish I'm a Cyborg, But that's Okay: Film Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Jul 3, 2009 10:38 AM

Guest :

I watched this movie just recently on TV (a foreign movie channel). I thought it was one of the most intriguing movies I've ever seen and kept my attention till it ended with the credits. I've been suggesting it to friends of mine.