Young-goon (Im Soo-jung) believes she is a cyborg; she
refuses to eat food and licks batteries instead to charge up. After she tries
to charge up by attaching wires into her slit wrist and plugging herself into
an outlet, Young-goon’s mother (Lee Yong-nyeo) has her committed at a mental
hospital. At the institute, Young-goon happily chats to the fluorescent lights
and the coffee machine during the day, before dutifully listening to the voice
from her radio, who orders her to kill the hospital staff. Young-goon attracts
the attention of Il-soon (Rain), an anti-social kleptomaniac who believes he
can steal his fellow patients’ characteristics, who decides to try and support
her whilst she’s at the hospital.
Park Chan-wook is famous, or infamous if you’d prefer, for
his extremely dark and gory revenge thrillers. I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK is a different tonal direction for
Park, although he still manages to sneak in some dark and bleak moments. It is
billed as an ‘offbeat romantic comedy’, but it is not a particularly funny film,
unless you find the quirkiness of mentally ill patients hilarious. With the
exceptions of Young-goon and Il-soon, the supporting casts’ mental problems are
treated rather perfunctorily; each character has a brief bit of backstory to
explain where their condition stemmed from but not much else. I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK is better
described as a bittersweet romantic drama. Young-goon and Il-soon are afraid of
disappearing and are unsure of their purpose, in a sense of existential despair
and abandonment. Il-soon does everything he can to comfort Young-goon, to begin
the healing process for himself and Young-goon, although admirably there are no
quick fixes in this film.
K-pop star Rain is extremely charismatic in his debut
performance as Il-soon, happily taking on the role of the scapegoat to help the
other patients. Rain portrays Il-soon as someone masking his despair through
happiness, before hiding behind a bunny mask when he cannot keep up the
pretence. Im Soo-jung is sympathetic as the troubled Young-goon, using the
excuse of being a cyborg to avoid confronting her painful past and compensate
for a lack of direction in life. Rain and Im Soo-jung share a nice chemistry
on-screen, although the screenplay makes it more one-sided and could be
alternatively read as a co-dependent relationship.
Park Chan-wook uses I’m
a Cyborg, But That’s OK as a chance to push his visual style into more
colourful territory. The opening scene is particularly strong, as a long line
of people dressed in red assemble radios in sync. The hospital is half blue and
half white, with the canteen wall dominated by a swirling tree design. The
group therapy sessions outside are encaged by a curved metal structure, as the
camera pans quickly around 360 degrees past the patients. Young-goon’s toes
light up as she charges up and later her body seems to glow from within. Chung Chung-hoon’s
cinematography is light and fluid, flowing down the hospital corridors and circling
around the characters. However at times, particularly with the fantasy
sequences, it feels a bit kitschy although that could come down to cultural
differences.
I’m a Cyborg,
But That’s OK is not Park Chan-wook’s best work, but it is visually
interesting with admirable performances from its two leading actors.
0 comments:
Post a Comment