Jungdoknoraebang

Sung-wook owns a failing karaoke centre where customers can sing in private booths. He hires Ha-suck as a 'helper' (a female singer who accompanies the clients as they perform) but, unable to sing, she resorts to other methods to extract cash from the mainly male clientele. They are soon joined by Tu-ju, another helper; and by a deaf-mute man they find living in a hidden room.

I have seen few Korean films but those that I have all feature violence against women - and there is plenty of that here, too. But the male characters also have their Secret Heartaches and everyone gets their shot at emoting for the camera (with special mention for Kim Na-mi as force-of-nature Tu-ju). That those dramatic scenes are not especially jarring in a film that for most of its running time plays things for laughs is a testament to director Sang-chan Kim and the writing team. I'd happily watch this one again.

You could also argue that there is no other combination than this. But then again, I'm not too familiar with Karaoke myself. On the other hand the movie does not seem familiar at all. And it does also seem to lose track of itself in between. You kind of question if this even has a point it wants to make. But it's so crazy, so wild, so out there, going against norm and still being "entertaining", that you have to love it (well you can also hate it of course).

The characters are the story and there is not much that can be said about this almost entirely one location (if you consider a building, not just one room/set, a one location shoot) movie. And boy are they mad (that's not a question). So weird does it and just the fact that it's unpredictable for most of its running time, made this fun for me. Do you feel the same?