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"How can anyone steal Thursday? It's ridiculous... Oh,
Thursday's panties are gone!... he's such a good
thief" If you were to cross "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's
Nest" with "Amelie" and add a healthy dose of "Terminator" you would
come pretty close to getting "I'm A Cyborg". Known internationally
as "I'm A Cyborg, but that's OK", the film is the creation of Park
Chan-wook - the writer/director behind the hugely successful
Vengeance trilogy - and though its concept is a major departure from
those his unique style (and penchant for ultra violent scenes) is
still clearly evident. It's creation came about as a result of
Chan-wook's desire to create a film which his fifteen year old
daughter and her friends could watch at the cinema (his earlier
films all having 18 certificates), but before we go any further
don't think that this is a kid's movie - it's not.
"I'm A Cyborg" tells the story of Young-goon - recently admitted to a psychiatric hospital following what is believed to have been a suicide attempt. The film begins with a doctor talking to Young-goon's mother, following the "accident" while flashbacks tell the real story of the incident in question. It turns out that Young-goon has for a long time thought that she is a cyborg. She talks to lights, vending machines and electronic equipment in an attempt to discover the purpose of her existence but can only be understood by them when she's wearing her granny's dentures. She believes that human food will cause her to break and attempts to charge herself by licking the ends of batteries, however this method of charging doesn't seem to be very efficient and so when the tannoy at her place of employment (on an electronics assembly line) tells her to cut her wrists, insert electric cables into the wounds and plug herself into the mains she does so without hesitation - electrocuting herself in the process. Once admitted to the psychiatric hospital the
radio broadcasts which she listens to every night tell her that she
must kill all the "white 'uns" (doctors and nurses) to be able to
return her granny's dentures to her - as without them her granny
cannot eat picked radishes - and to enable her to do so without
guilt, or sympathy for the grannies of the "white 'uns", she enlists
the services of Il-soon (another mental patient who, as well as
being a kleptomaniac, is convinced that he is vanishing into a dot)
to steal her sympathy from her. Il-soon gradually falls in love with
Young-goon who, still not eating, is becoming gravely ill and takes
it upon himself to convince her to eat.
Direction: A large part of "I'm A Cyborg" is shown from
Young-goon's point of view with scenes of events as she believes
them to be giving the film a deeply surreal, dreamlike quality. An
optimistic film such as this, with a huge fantasy element, lives or
dies by the warmth it exudes - especially considering the amount of
violence present in the killing of the "white 'uns" - and the
repeated use of a storybook theme voiced over by the broadcast from
Young goon's radio touches viewers' nostalgic bone, bringing
subconscious memories of bedtime stories and comfort. The use of
bright primary colours throughout adds a cosy, almost childlike,
glow to proceedings (if the term "cosy" can ever be used with regard
to a mental institution) and whether viewers realise it or not they
are constantly being assured that everything will be OK in the end.
Of course the likeability of the characters is of major importance
as well, and the feeling that each is trying to find happiness
within their madness, combined with top notch performances by the
cast, ensures that we warm (there's that word again) to each and
every one of them. Park Chan-wook has also helped matters by giving
each of the characters (and there are a lot of characters) a
comprehensive back story and though this adds complexity to the
overall plot it never bogs down the story or feels
laboured.
Lim Soo-jung gives an impassioned performance as
Young-goon expertly showing both her character's naivety, with
regard to reality, and her heartfelt, unshakeable belief that what
she imagines is true. Fans of South Korean films will recognise her
name from "A Tale Of Two Sisters" and "...ing" but could be forgiven
for not realising that this is the same actress at first, the change
in her appearance from wearing a badly cut wig, ill-fitting dentures
and having dyed eyebrows making her almost unrecognisable. Her
portrayal here is yet more evidence, if more were needed, that she
is one of the shining lights in South Korean cinema. The part of
Il-soon is played by Rain (a well known singer in South Korea) so
well that it's difficult to believe that this is one of his first
professional acting roles and even though the use of his singing
talents in the yodeling section of the film blatantly stems from his
fame as a singer, the overall result still works well within the
story. The acting of the multitude of other cast members is well
above par but I'd be here all week if I was to discuss each
separately, so let's just leave it at that.
"I'm A Cyborg" is a sweet, uplifting movie and
though there are parts of it which feel similar to elements from the
Vengeance trilogy (for example the mental hospital scenes in "I'm A
Cyborg" are very reminiscent of the prison segments in "Sympathy For
Lady Vengeance") viewers should be aware that this film has a
totally different mission statement to any of Chan-wook's previous
works. Comparisons to his other films are inevitable but ultimately
risk doing "I'm A Cyborg" more harm than good as expectations of
"more of the same" are likely to result in disappointment. If viewed
as a separate entity in its own right "I'm A Cyborg" shows itself to
be a beautifully realised story of love, belief and
acceptance. Who's to say that our perception of reality is
right while someone else's is wrong? With "I'm A Cyborg" Park
Chan-wook implies that the right or wrong of the situation doesn't
really matter - what's important is finding contentment in our
beliefs and surrounding ourselves with people who accept us for who
we are, dentures and all.
A film to warm the cockles of your heart. Now, where did I put those picked radishes?
DVD First up is an exclusive interview with director
Park Chan-wook, filmed at London's Barbican Centre. The interview is
conducted in Korean with a translator communicating the moderator's
questions to the director, which means that the hour-long runtime is
actually slightly misleading. That said, it's still a pretty decent
length for an interview, and if you can get past the slightly odd
set-up, Park reveals some interesting information. In addition to
answering questions from the moderator, Park also fields some from
the audience, which is a nice touch. DVD
Details:
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All images © Tartan Video Review © P. Quinn |
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