I'M A CYBORG, BUT THAT'S OK

Director: Chan-wook Park
Stars: Su-jeong Lim, Rain, Hie-jin Choi, Yong-nyeo Lee
Year: 2006
Rating: NR

(in Korean w/English subtitles)

A surrealistic, "alternative" love story set in a mental institution, there is just something so charming and sincere about this film - and, in particular, with the honest and convincing portrayals of its two lead actors (Su-jeong Lim, along with Asian pop singing sensation Rain) - that you can't help but crush on it. After the initial WTF? look that may come over your face, sit back and enjoy ... and realize that you just might be in the process of being taken to a different sort of place; one that makes Dorothy Gale's Oz pale by comparison.

Su-jeong Lim, nothing short of amazing in the role, stars as Young-goon, a girl who works in a factory and -thanks to a psychotic episode - has everyone convinced she tried to commit suicide. She's committed by her mother to the psychiatric ward of a mental hospital, forbidden by her mother to reveal her Big Secret ... that she's convinced she is a killer robot, or cyborg, sent by her grandmother to kill all the "white 'uns" (the doctors and nurses, etc.) in the hospital.

At the hospital, we're introduced to (to say the least) the other colorful and quirky residents that inhabit the mental wards with Young-goon ... and, in particular, to Il-sun (Rain) - a handsome if goofy young man who has all the other residents convinced that he's not only a thief, but can steal anything from you he likes; your habits, your senses, even your very soul. Il-sun becomes fascinated with Young-goon almost from the beginning, and when she learns of his special talent she has a mission for him: she wants him to steal her sympathy. It's the one thing she has, she's been told (by a voice on a radio), that's keeping her from fulfilling her mission to kill all the white 'uns. Il-sun informs her that, of course, he can't steal something of which she gives away freely - that that is not stealing - but nevertheless agrees to observe her and, if he decides he wants it, to steal what she needs to have gone.

But as Young-goon falls ill from not eating (a cyborg cannot digest food, after all), Il-sun starts to care more and more for her ... and an unlikely, sometimes comedic romance begins to blossom between the two.

This isn't a film for everyone - certainly not for those who don't even like foreign films - but for those willing to give it a go, and who actually pay attention to a film when they're watching it, this is a sweet, often funny comedy featuring an unlikely and very realistic pair of young people who fall in love within their own world. It really is to the lead actors' credit that they are so convincing and warm in the lead roles; if not for them, you wouldn't care so much for Young-goon and Il-sun, as you will by the end of the film. Director Chan-wook Park has fashioned a unique love story with a tender heart behind it, and it's a winner that's worth your time to track down and see - a film about finding your reason for existence, your place of acceptance, in this world ... even if that place of acceptance only exists in the arms of another. **** - Reel Awesome