Saibogujiman kwenchana (2006)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Chan-wook Park

Writers:

Seo-Gyeong Jeong (writer)
Chan-wook Park (writer)

Release Date:

7 December 2006 (South Korea)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

A girl who thinks she is a combat cyborg checks into a mental hospital, where she encounters other psychotics. Eventually, she falls for a man who thinks he can steal people's souls.

Plot Keywords:

Mental Hospital | Cyborg | Mental Institution | Electric Shock Therapy | Blue Hair

Awards:

5 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Su-jeong Lim	...	Cha Young-goon
Rain	...	Park Il-sun
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hie-jin Choi	...	Choi Seul-gi
Byeong-ok Kim	...	Judge
Yong-nyeo Lee	...	Young-goon's mother
Dal-su Oh	...	Shin Duk-cheon
Ho-jeong Yu	...	Il-sun's mother

Also Known As:

I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (International: English title) (USA)
I'm a Cyborg (UK)

Runtime:

South Korea:105 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Hong Kong:IIA | South Korea:12 | Germany:12 | France:U | UK:15 | Sweden:11 | Finland:K-13

Company:

Moho Films

Trivia:

Su-jeong Lim had to get her weight down to just 39 kg to shoot this film.

A wonderful, unique and experimental film but that is OK

Park Chan Wook is the talented director behind films such as J.S.A: Joint Security Area, and of course the brilliant Vengeance trilogy. So when Chan Wook first announced that his next project would be a simple love i awaited the day to see the film.

Young Goon works at a manufacturing plant assembling radio's, a young girl with a secret which is she is a cyborg. One day while working at the factory she decides to recharge herself by slashing her wrist and implanting electrical wires into the wound. This of course earns her a one way ticket to the psychiatric ward known as "New World" after being committed by her mother Once at New World she spends her time talking to vending machines, and licking the terminals of 9 volt batteries in order to recharge. She then meets a fellow patient Il-Sun played by popular Korean pop artist Rain. A former electrician who believes he has the ability to steal certain characteristics from his fellow beings, and displays the typical traits of Kleptomania. Soon Young Goon and Il-Sun bond together. However Young Goon becomes seriously ill from malnutrition. Young Goon believes Cyborgs should not consume "human" food and has refused to eat in weeks. The doctors say that she will die in three days if she refuses to show progress, which gives Il-Sun a way to connect to her soul and save her from imminent death The opening scenes to this film really caught my attention, its a beautiful looking film, the use of color in the film is so surreal and compliments the subject matter of the film perfectly. Their is a lot of depth to this film, this isn't just your mere run of the mill love story in fact its far from it. Park also returns to one his most frequent topics which is the inability of communication. Just as Ryu from Mr Vengeance or Dae-Su from Oldboy were thrust into the pits of hell because they could not, or would not, understand what was said to them or what they themselves uttered. The same can be said Young Goon who cannot comprehend her subjective universe to anyone but herself, and she has no means of communicating to its logic or meaning to us. Another theme that is played around with is the lack of a mother figure from both leads lives, both Il Sun and Young Goon had no strong mother figures in their life's, as they are either non-existent or virtually non-existent. Young Goon feels closest to her grandmother who was also mentally ill. Young Goon witnessed her grandmother being taken away by paramedics at a young age which has in-struck a fear of "white uns" or White Coats. Which also leads to some of the surreal and in that Chan Wook way bizarrely funny sequences as to where Young Goon hallucinates killing the "White Uns" ala The Terminator style There are also the mysterious words mouthed to Young Goon by her grandmother as she was being taken away by paramedics. I can't give away too much as these words lead towards the conclusion of the film, And that is where i segue to one of the main problems i had with the film. I enjoyed the film, i enjoyed the simple romance going between Il Sun and Young Goon, i absolutely adored the stories of the other residents of "New World" such as the one guy who blames himself for everything and spends his time apologizing for everything, and the movie has a really sweet seldom cute charm to it. But the conclusions comes a little too quickly and feels well somewhat flat. I enjoyed everything up to the ending, and while I do have a basic understanding as to how it ended, it's just that after an 1hr and a half of really enjoying this charm of a film, the ending came out of nowhere and in someways just felt flat, although to its credit i did like the fact that is has me thinking about it still to this day I personally think Park Chan Wook is the finest talent going around in Asian cinema. The visuals are fantastic and very reminiscent to Manga based girl infused with machinery archetype, for reference just check out the Young Goon jet pack scene or even those Terminator style scenes , after watching this film it strengthened my dream of seeing Park do a Sci-Fi Manga Based film. This is a good example of original, different and out of the box film making, and while it may not appeal to the masses. Park Chan Wook fans may tolerate this film or dislike it all together for all those reasons. But I for one do not share that view, I'm a Cyborg is in many ways a good film and in every inch a Park Chan Wook film and that is okay!