BUNGEE JUMPING OF THEIR OWN (Beonjijompeureul Hada)
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Sound format: Dolby Digital
A high school teacher (Lee Byung-hun) suspects that a teenage boy (Yeo Hyun-soo) is the reincarnation of a girl he loved and lost 17 years earlier - and begins to fall in love with him...
The Korean movie renaissance continues apace with this extraordinary film from debut director Kim Dae-seung, working from Ko Eun-nim's equally extraordinary script, which tackles the universality of love in all its myriad forms. Hoping to spring a surprise on the film's notoriously conservative domestic audience, the distributors omitted virtually all references to the 'gay twist' from advance publicity materials, promoting the movie as a story of enduring love (the opening section is no different from dozens of other romantic dramas produced in SE Asia every year), headlined by some of the country's most popular actors.
Korean superstar Lee Byung-hun (JOINT SECURITY AREA) is utterly charming as the beleaguered protagonist who stands to lose his friends, family and livelihood because of a sudden, inexplicable identity crisis (he isn't 'gay' in the true sense of the word, he's simply found his soulmate in an unexpected place), and he makes a startling transition from gauche youth to confident adult, touched by eternity; his emotions are palpable, and deeply affecting. Lee Eun-ju is strong in a largely thankless role as the woman who captures Lee B-H's heart (sadly, the actress took her own life in February 2005), while rising star Yeo (BIRTH OF A MAN) holds his own as the young man caught up in circumstances beyond his control.
A romantic melodrama in the true sense, Kim's remarkable film balances magic and realism with exquisite grace (look out for the 'waltz at sunset' sequence, guaranteed to warm anyone's cockles), though the climactic descent into darker territory leads to an unexpected finale which is both sad and liberating, all at the same time. Unfortunately, the film has been saddled with an appalling English title which makes it sound like some kind of comedy, and prospective viewers are urged to look beyond this minor blemish. Brave, emotional, and played to perfection by a sterling cast, this is transgressive cinema at its most compelling.
(Korean dialogue)
