Review of I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006) by Duwi P — 10 May 2008

I hope no one has any prejudices against Korean movies because I think their movie industry is one of the fastest and most successful growing industries presently and this movie was certainly made by one of their most outstanding directors living there.

Chan-Wook Park's international reputation is rooted in his self-styled 'revenge trilogy', making his latest romantic comedy I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK a departure from his comfort zone.

In the same time, this film based on love also breaks the so called Korean tradition of sad movies which seems to be the most recent and most made Korean movies in this day and age. On the contrary, this new film, as its title implies, is no straightforward romantic comedy as you might have guessed.

Like all Park's work, I'm A Cyborg is very much its own film, and unlike anything else out there the East might have produced. It has some parallel distinctive brand of shooting with well-known directors like Michael Gondry because of the absurdity and creativity they imply on the picture, or the story itself: Young-goon, a girl who thinks she is a cyborg checks into a mental hospital where she encounters a man who thinks he can steal people's souls.

Sure there'Â?s a colorful cast of characters constantly hovering about the margin, e.g. the chronic liar, the perpetual apologist who walks backwards, the obese bully who claims to fly with her socks; but the storys backbone ultimately develops along with the relationship between Young-goon and her newfound companion, which thankfully does not fall under the typical romantic trappings I have slightly mentioned before.

For example, for fear that her mechanical components can not process food regular humans eat, she gets, or she thinks she gets her energy from licking battery butts which means that she is also starving herself to death.

The guy then proceeds to implant a device that will convert the food into fuel for her, which obviously is only true according to their insane minds, but still it falls on the same basis us normal human have which is love.

I thought our 2 main leads were great in getting their wacky personalities out. Su-jeong Lim is always good as I'Â?m a big watcher of her. The surprise value however comes from Korean pop star Rain who proved to me he is not only a pretty looking stupid Asian icon who cares solely for money and fame, but is actually capably talented too.

The whole movie was actually fun to watch. The nice to see lively colored design, the wacky things our asylum members act out, and the uplifting chemistry our 2 heroine generate was enough to preserve my interest throughout the film.