Bardlerx Strictly average movie

PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

birthdaynoodle Sunhi is a pretty film student who returns to her college town after being away for a year. She reencounters several men from her school days, all academic filmmakers who are very different from one another, yet are also hilariously similar in some ways. One of the film's main strengths is its simplicity: all it features is a series of funny conversations between two or three people, sometimes at a park, in broad daylight, sometimes in a bar, where emotions flow more freely. Part of the reason why it works so well is because all the characters are so believable and exquisitely played. The beautiful Yu-mi Jeong carries the lead role with natural charm and comic talent, while Jae-yeong Jeong, Sun-kyun Lee and Sang Jung Kim present an eloquent picture of intelligent men at their most stupid.

sbwoodside Sunhi returns to the film school she graduated from a year before and starts to run into old friends. She's interested in some, others are interested in her. Awkward encounters ensue, heavy drinking and eating chicken. It's a sort of a Rom-Com, but with some kind of Korean twist that I didn't completely understand. The closest comparison is an extended episode of Seinfeld, or perhaps a Woody Allen movie.I saw this film yesterday at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). On the plus side, there were a number of funny scenes, especially revolving around the game of telephone being played between the four main characters as they talk about Sunhi, each other, how they need to dig deeper to find themselves, etc. On the downside, not much happens, I never really got into any of the characters, and ultimately I was a bit bored.I suspect that there's a cultural and language disconnect. I don't think that the subtitles did justice to what seemed to be some clever repetition of lines and memes circling between the characters. Culturally, I know that Korea has a deep and quite dissimilar culture compared to Canada. So, I suspect that many of the jokes and potentially the romanticism was lost on me. Director Hong Sang-soo is said to be quite successful in Korea. Perhaps with a better introduction by the festival staff, and improved subtitles, this film could be more successful. As it is I can only give it a 6/10.