So Cute

One of the stranger films of the last year, one that has everything it takes to grow into a cult hit, is also the acting début of Jang Sun-Woo, Film Maker in Focus in 1997, jury member in 2004 and director of films including Lies. This anarchist satire filled with ridiculous situations is ‘a hopeful film for the hopeless’, but what exactly we should think about ‘the Korean man’ will continue to be a topic of conversation for some time. Humour like this has been described as a cross between Slavic comedies and alternative Japanese cinema. With his characteristic appearance, Jang is ideal as Jang Su-Ro, a former drunkard who was also sexually very active in his days as a shaman, when he sired three sons with different women. He lives with two of these sons, motorbike courier 963 and tow-truck driver Dog Nose, in a deserted apartment block in Cheonggyecheon, Seoul. This dysfunctional family would appear to be complete when Dog Nose brings home a girlfriend for his lonely father. This Sun-Yi, an attractive flirt, moves in with the men almost at once. The third son, gangster So-So (played by a phenomenal Jung Jae-Young) is asked to evict them from the apartment block, if necessary with some violence; only then does he meet his half brothers for the first time. He too is soon impressed by Sun-Yi. (GT)