A Good Lawyer's Wife

Its a korean movie, so definitely well written , well performed , directed, and quality somehow is so so.

it does have some side line stories like korean war, some legal battles and some crime scene investigation stuff, but the main plot is about a lawyer and his wife. husband has some fling going on with someone else and wife is starting having some sexual connection with young kid next door.

As i lived some years in asian countries like china , thai , japan from 2010 to 2018 , this story is kinda real close to reality. busy lives, sexually frustrated husband n wife, and sometimes or many times, either one or both goes for filling that sexually frustration with someone else. and yeah, "cheating / adultery always ends bad" . it does . its always,

Right, well the concept idea behind the 2003 South Korean drama "Baramnan Gajok" (aka "A Good Lawyer's Wife") from writer and director Im Sang-soo sounded interesting. And thus, I sat down to watch the movie here in 2023, as I happened to stumble upon it by random chance.

But what seemed interesting in the synopsis was a snooze-fest of epic proportions. It was a sluggish narrative that offered nothing interesting to the audience. And running at 104 minutes, it is a massive struggle to sit through "Baramnan Gajok".

The character gallery was mundane and you don't care one bit about any of the character on the screen as they prance through the irrelevant narrative. I am sure that the actors and actresses on the cast list were talented, but they virtually had nothing to work with here.

"Baramnan Gajok" was a swing and a miss, and it is not something I would recommend for fans of the South Korean cinema to sit down and watch. Some of us suffered through this, literally, so you don't have to.

My rating of "Baramnan Gajok" lands on a two out of ten stars.

Im Sang-soo has long been considered a notable figure in the Korean New Wave, ever since his 1998 debut with Girls' Night Out.

However, based on the films I've seen, I've never quite understood why he's regarded as one of the greats in Korean cinema. The Attorney's Wife is yet another example.

This drama about a marriage in crisis leans heavily on erotic tension and benefits from solid performances by its two leads, but beyond that, it fails to leave a lasting impression.

Competent but far from essential, it lacks the depth or uniqueness that might elevate it above similar works.

My rating: ***

First, although A Good Lawyer's wife is billed as a comedy-drama, it is not. There's little humor to be found in this story of the end of a desolate marriage. Sexually abandoned by her cheating and emotionally indifferent husband, a housewife takes a casual interest in a 16 year old neighbor boy, whose raging hormones give her the passionate interest of a male, something that has disappeared in her marriage. This leads to teenage rituals involving kissing and groping. After a family tragedy, events lead to the culmination of this relationship and a starting point for a new and better life for her.

Beautifully written, acted and directed, the loose ends only add to the film's allure. Not for all tastes. Be warned this is an adult film with graphic nudity and frank dialog throughout, but very rewarding for the mature viewer.

This movie was simply too much of all the wrong things. Too many people deliberately hurting each other. Too much (way too much) explicitly sexual scenes. Too many plots that were left undone. Even the end was too vague. The ending left me wondering about so many things and overall wishing they put gave more depth to each character.