Review of I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006) by David T — 21 Jan 2013

The Basics: Young-goon is a girl who gets admitted to a mental institution after slitting her wrist and inserting wires into herself, and as her stay progresses, she gets worse and worse as she refuses to eat. Enter Il-soon, a thief who steals other patient's psychopathies. He steals Young-goon's sympathy and falls in love with her, and spends the rest of the movie trying to get her to eat. Kind of wacky.

What's the Deal?: This movie is the weirdest romantic comedy I've ever seen. Even weirder is that it's by Park Chan-wook, the guy behind Thirst and Oldboy, the sickest, depraved movie I've ever seen. But this one is really refined, low-key, and oddly sweet. All of the inmates have these really wacky quirks that aren't played up; they just kind of exist in this hospital, and it's actually endearing to watch crazy people fall in love, which is disturbing enough to actually make me think that if we think this is a love story, we're the ones with mental problems.

Justin Timberlake's match: That would be Rain, the Korean pop star who is building a nice filmography between this and the Wachowski's Ninja Assassin. He's really low-key and his performance is nicely understated. He's not wackadoo crazy, and he sings a really funny song about halfway through that's really good, and shows he's actually a pop star. I hope he makes an English language crossover soon.

The Final Verdict: I don't really know what to say about this movie other than it's good, and you should see it. It's really weird, but not in a bad way, and as crazy as it gets, it still keeps the emotional ties grounded enough to make you sympathize with the characters, no matter what crazy things they do. I could talk about mental instability, but that's more a setting for a love story, and less a serious plot point that gets exploited for profit. The take home message here: People are weird, and instead of trying to fix those changes, you should find someone who embraces you for who you are and joins in your insanity instead of trying to make you better. That's probably the sweetest message I've ever seen in a romantic comedy, and that's why I like it. Also, it's super wacky. Gotta love that. B+.