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79 Set in the rural town of Hongseong in the early 1980s, “Hot Young Bloods” (2014) fol- lows the lives of four teenagers during their final years in high school. Romance is in the air for some, violence and humiliation for others in this “American Pie” (1999)-reminiscent romantic comedy by director Lee Yeon-woo. The main characters are Jung-gil (Lee Jong- seok), the school lothario who is working his way though all the girls in his year: So-hee (Lee Se-yeong), the new transfer from Seoul who becomes the object of Jung-gil’s affections; female gang leader Yeong-sook (Park Bo-yeo- ng), who is developing feelings for Jung-gil and Gwang-sik (Kim Yeong-gwang), the school thug who is dating Yeong-sook and has a real hatred for Jung-gil. I won’t lie, my inner child thoroughly en- joyed watching the horny antics of Jung-gil, particularly the scene where he loses a game of rock-paper-scissors and is made to walk down a crowded car on his school’s train with a large eggplant down his trousers! Watching his cheesy lines as he tries and fails miserably with the new girl from Seoul, who is wise to his tricks, is just as amusing as it is cringe-worthy. As funny as I found the first hour, it was a bit- tersweet feeling, as I knew that at any moment the film would undoubtedly make a huge tonal shift and become something far more serious, and no doubt slightly depressing, and that was indeed the case. The film is a lot like Yun Je-kyun’s “Sex is Zero” (2002): For every scene that makes you laugh, there are just as many scenes of vio- lence and despair showing people who genu- inely hate their lives, which, let’s be honest, is pretty depressing. Sure, the film has a short comedic coda that riffs “An Officer and a Gen- tlemen” (1982) and suggests there is some sort of happy ending for our two main characters. But much like the film itself, I found it difficult to spontaneously revert back to my original happy mood. If the film hadn’t ramped up the drama quite so much, it would have been an excellent period comedy. Still, with a quality soundtrack straight from the ’80s, “Hot Young Bloods” is a very en- joyable film — just one that doesn’t really know what it wants to be. Review by Dean Crawford KoreAn dVd Corner the smAll sCreen Directed by Hong Sang-soo R Sun-hi (Jeong Yu-mi), a film graduate from Seoul, has distanced herself from her friends and teachers as she tries to decide what she wants to do with her life. She eventually comes to the realization that she wants to study in the United States, but to do that she needs a reference from her former professor, Mr. Choi (Kim Sang-jung). The outing results in a chance meeting be - tween Sun-hi and her ex-boyfriend Moon-su (Lee Seon-gyun), who is clearly still in love with her. As it turns out, Moon-su is friends with Yuk- jae (Jeong Jae-yeong), who also has feelings for Sun-hi. Eventually, we learn that Professor Choi is also besotted with Sun-hi, but the only person who truly knows how everybody feels in this con- fusing love triangle is Sun-hi herself. It’s ironic that a movie about filmmakers hap- pens to be one of the least cinematic I’ve seen all year. There is very little camera movement and each shot lasts well over five minutes; one static shot in particular where Sun-hi and Jae- hak discuss their lives is over 16 minutes long. That’s not to say “Our Sunhi” (2013) is a bad film; it is simply one that relies on the dialogue and the performances of the actors to carry the feature. It’s artistic choices like this that earned director Hong Sang-soo the Silver Leopard for Best Director at the 66th Locarno International Film Festival. All of the actors excel, but to varying degrees. Lee Seon-gyun, who I thought was excellent in “All About My Wife” (2012), is very watchable as Moon-su. On the other hand, Jeong Jae-yeong appears to be playing an alternative version of his brooding cop from “Confession of Murder” (2012). It works for the most part, but it’s hard to really know what he is thinking. I also found it hard to engage with the title character, as you are never quite sure if she has genuine feelings for any of the three men she is inadvertently playing against each other, or if she is just stringing them along to further her ambi - tions. It definitely seems like the latter when it comes to Professor Choi, but with the way the film is set up, don’t expect any definite answers — just enjoy the ride. Drama 89 minutes our sunhi 우리 선희 Directed by Lee Yeon-woo PG-13 Comedy / Drama 121 minutes hot Young bloods 피끓는 청춘
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79page