Dec

30

2006

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Movie : I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK / Saibogujiman kwenchana / 싸이보그지만 괜찮아
Release Date : December 7, 2006
Country : South Korea
Director : Chan-Wook Park
Starring: Rain, Im Soo-Jung
Runtime : 105 Minutes
Editor Rating : 8.5
Users Rating: 8.33 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars (42 votes)

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Plot Synopsis : Young-gyun works at manufacturing plant, assembling radio’s. She keeps to herself and also keeps a secret to herself, which is that she is a cyborg. One day, while working at the factory, she decides to re-charge herself, by slashing her wrist and implanting electrical wires into her arm. This quickly buys Young-gyun a ticket into “New World,” a a hospital specializing in the treatment of mental illnesses.

At New World, Young-gyun spends her time listening to the radio, talking with vending machines, and licking the terminals of 9 volt batteries. She soon encounters a guy, that is somewhat on the same eccentric level, named Il-Sun. Formerly an electrician, Il-Sun is now a thief of souls in the mental hospital, along with being your run-of-the-mill kleptomaniac. He believes that he possesses the power to steal the characteristics of other people. Young-gyun and Il-Sun soon bond together, as their strange personalities complements each other perfectly. Unfortunately Young-gyun becomes seriously ill from malnutrition. She believes that Cyborgs should not eat “human” food and thus has not eaten in weeks. She soon loses most of her energy and becomes bed ridden. The doctors say that she has only a few more days to live, if she continues her ways. Il-Sun must now find a way to connect to her soul and save her from imminent death.

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Movie Review : I’m A Cyborg, But That’s Ok is the latest film directed by Chan-Wook Park. He has stated publicly that for this film, he wanted to move away from the heaviness of his last three films (based on Revenge) and make this film a simpler affair without having to worry about commercial expectations. Well after seeing “I’m A Cyborg, But That’s Ok,” I can say that superficially, the movie appears simpler then than anything he has done in the past, but there is quite a bit more percolating below this superficial teenage romance layer.

From the opening scene, I’m A Cyborg, But That’s Ok, grabbed my attention with visuals that seemed like technicolor art. The way Chan-Wook Park interwove the opening credits within the actual opening sequences was utterly impressive and made for one of the best opening scenes I have ever had the pleasure to watch. From there, the visuals were on par with “Sympathy For Lady Vengeance” mixed in with the surreal and colorful worlds of say Terry Gilliam (Brazil) and Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands). I can’t emphasize enough how impressive the visuals were.

The main actors in the movie were Im Soo-Jung and the popular K-Pop singer turned actor Rain. For Im Soo-Jung, I’m A Cyborg, But That’s Ok may be the movie that gets her elevated beyond the teeny bopper films that she seems to get typecast for so often these days. There were moments in the film where she was completely unrecognizable and still delivered a very impressive performance. I was also very impressed by the fella known as Rain. He seemed to be a natural for the camera and delivered a performance that seemed uncanny for a first time big-screen actor.

Beyond the simple love story between the two eccentric main leads, you have a lot of other things occurring in the film that was harder to comprehend. Definitely Chan-Wook Park seemed to have been implying the importance of a strong motherly figure, because both main characters had mothers that were non-existent or virtually non-existent. As for Young-Gyun she was closest to her grandmother who was also mentally ill. Young-Gyun saw her grandmother taken away by paramedics at a young age and since then, has had a fear of people in white uniforms. When Young-Gyun herself was committed to the mental hospital, she had these persistent visions of her grandmother in the mental hospital. She also had visions where she would kill the hospital workers ala the Terminator, to protect her grandmother from them. Yet, in Young-gyun’s mind, she still possessed 7 traits that would prevent her from being a cyborg and able to “terminate” the workers at the hospital. Some of the more notable of these 7 traits were: Guilt, Gratitude, and Sympathy. It seems Chan-Wook Park is still pretty keen on the importance of sympathy. These seven traits were also a play on a Korean word which is typically used for the 7 qualifications to obtain a legal divorce.

There were also the mysterious words that the grandmother mouthed silently to Young-Gyun while she was being taken away in the ambulance. Through all the years Young-gyun never knew exactly what her grandmother said to her, but finally as an adult and with the help of Il-Sun, she was able to figure out what her grandmother said. Those words could be translated roughly to “The meaning of existence is …1 billion volts.” …Yeah like I said earlier, there are parts in this film that are a little hard to comprehend. Certainly this is one of those movies that would provide more incite on second or third viewings and I certainly did not mind the eccentricity of the story.

Ultimately, I’m A Cyborg, But That’s Ok is an impressive film for its visual imagery as well as for its two main characters, that are as unique as any characters you will likely encounter in any film. You could just go with the flow and follow the movie for the simple love story between Il-Sun and Young-Gyun or you could try to delve deeper into their worlds to understand some of the more difficult to comprehend aspects that Chan-Wook Park laid beneath the love story layer. Regardless of what path you pick, the core of the movie contains a wonderful humanist theme, that goes along the lines of…”to truly love a person you must try to understand & accept that person for what they are.”

On a sidenote, while leaving the cinema I did listen to two fellow movie goers talk about the film while in the elevator. One guy basically said, “I could kill the bastard that rated this movie 5 stars!” I guess this film isn’t for everyone, but I certainly did enjoy the movie.

buy I’m A Cyborg, But That’s OK from YesAsia

Cast:
Su-jeong Lim - Cha Young-goon
Rain - Park Il-sun

Hie-jin Choi - Choi Seul-gi
Byeong-ok Kim - Judge
Yong-nyeo Lee - Young-goon’s mother
Dal-su Oh - Shin Duk-cheon
Ho-jeong Yu - Il-sun’s mother


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2006 Movie Reviews, Korean Movies, Movie Reviews, Movies |

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6 Comments so far

  1. 6 jes_tah! Says: June 15, 2008

    Gah! This movie was, indeed, impressive. Everything about it (the characters, the quirky plot, the actors, the visionary screenplay, EVERYTHING) blew me away. Just watching the trailer makes me happy! :D

  2. 5 jaime Says: July 11, 2007

    i loved this movie so much. me and my friend saw it and just talked about how amazing it was. the colors were so vibrant and the ideas so imaginative, it really is like nothing else youve seen. This movie was awesome.

  3. 4 Xan Says: June 1, 2007

    My friends started to shudder and look away when they saw me approaching with a DVD case and a euphoric look on my face. So I gave up trying to share the incredible pleasure I get from watching Asian films. But this film has reawakened the fanatic. Friends beware! “I’m a Cyborg but that”s OK” has been the most absorbing and richly imagined film I have watched in a long while. I agree with you, the opening credits where so amazing that I had to run them again. They were an integral part of the movie that subtley established the tone and mood of the film.
    In this film Park Chan Wook’s talent and vision were more accessible to me than in his revenge trilogy. I think I was too busy flinching while watching to truly appreciate them. What will this man do next? Can’t wait!

  4. 3 luna6 Says: May 18, 2007

    Just a note for anybody that is interested…looks like Rain (who played Il-Sun in I’m A Cyborg But That’s OK) landed a prominent supporting role in “Speed Racer” the next film from the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix). Other notable actors in Speed Racer will be Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, and Christina Ricci. Speed Racer is set for release in May of 2008. More information can be read here.

  5. 2 CyberPony Says: April 25, 2007

    just want to say I watched this movie last night and was really impressed. I didn’t like it as much as oldboy or sympathy for lady vengeance, but the movie was very good in its own way.
    chan-wook park is da mannnnn.

  6. 1 Janet O. Says: January 18, 2007

    I’m so looking forwards to seeing this movie when its available on dvd! This is the first time reading about Park’s new film and it sounds quite unique. I have seen Oldboy and JSA by Park and they were just breathtaking. Also Rain (!!!) seems to be quite the cutie. Waiting for this movie on DVD.