Bewitching Attraction

Ever since her high school days "Cho Eun-suk" (So-ri Moon) has had an uncanny ability to arouse the passions of men and keep them in thrall to her for a lengthy period of time. Once she gets her hooks in them they remain both loyal and committed to her in spite of the fact that she doesn't return the same level of commitment toward them. Even so, she seems to need their devotion to somehow satisfy an emptiness within her but doesn't quite seem to realize the danger of having several sexually aggressive men desiring her so strongly. Yet in spite of the death of one young man already she continues to keep them in line until the addition of a new suitor named "Park Seok-gyu" (Jin-hee Ji) joins the crowd. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it I will just say that this was a difficult movie to fully appreciate due mainly to the convoluted plot and to a lesser extent because of the cultural differences unique to this specific society. I mention this second point since the film is essentially a comedy and some of the humor may have been lost in translation. Case in point, there were some scenes that featured Cho Eun-suk reciting her own poetry which I found to be ridiculously bad. I sure hope that was the intent because I thought it was hilarious. In any case, So-ri Moon was definitely attractive and had the plot been more coherent I would have rated this movie higher. As it stands I have to rate it as only about average.

This can't be a mainstream movie. The (fatal - nudge nudge) "attraction" is an aspiring poet with big town looks in a small town college. Actress Moon does look different - sexy and plain, depending on camera angle, nice figure though! Too many weird scenes that don't seem to flow together and I.Bergman-style mono-toning. But also somewhat compelling as you anticipate what happens next? A flashback is presented but the backstory was hard to follow as the teen males didn't resemble the present day adults so it was hard to follow who was who. Maybe it was the DVD transfer we had but this movie had too many disconcerting blips, cuts, skips and jumps.

Billed as a romantic sex comedy, Bewitching Attraction is neither full of raunchy sex (ala another movie in town now - Lie With Me), nor is it full of laughs. It's an acquired taste, with sporadic nudity and sex, and rests its wit in black comedy instead.

Starring Moon So-Ri in the female lead role of textiles professor Eun-suk in a rural town, and Ji Jin-hee as Park Seok-gyu, a comics illustrator turned lecturer, Bewitching Attraction relies heavily on the chemistry of its leading cast to carry through a convoluted plot. Eun-suk, a lady with a limp, is extremely promiscuous, having had sex with most of the men in her faculty, possessing with her much influence on the men with her sexuality. An environmental activist, she also harbours ambitions in branching into television, hence the early sex sequence with a TV show producer - nothing much really, just full of pumping action.

Enter Seok-gyu into the fray as the new lecturer, and the other folks feel threatened with the arrival of the good looker. You'd thought for a minute that the two will hit it off straightaway, but both have this cold shoulder exhibited. The rest of the story deals mainly with the slow revelation of a deep dark secret these two share way back in high school, which involves death in a plot line similar to that of Dorm's swimming pool. In some sick fashion, I kinda enjoyed(!) the way it was played on screen, it looked horribly realistic.

And the black comedy continues from then on, as if both characters are that forbidden alignment of the stars, that when brought together, will cause the tragic demise of those around them. I've got to give the movie credit though, that these sequences happen when you least expect it, or if you are expecting it, the delivery will still manage to surprise you for a bit.

And is it just me, or does Moon So-Ri look like Michelle Chia from certain angles in the movie? Somehow she looks really to die for at certain angles, while other angles made her look pretty ordinary. You gotta check it out to see what I mean.

But it's recommended only if you cannot get tickets to other more worthy summer movies. With the barrage of Korean movies of the same genre lately (dealing with romance), this could possibly be one of the weakest K-offering this season.

I don't know what the other people are saying, but I found this movie very entertaining, funny, and relaxing. A lot of the humor in the movie, however, I feel can only be understood by being Korean. There are so many instances of aspects of characters, culture, and language that are ridiculously hilarious.

Besides the humor, I enjoyed the setting of the film a lot as well. The flashback scenes to the 80's were especially memorable. Being Korean myself, I felt like I was IN the scenes, back in those times.

Overall, I thought this movie was extremely hilarious, and also very relaxing, with it's peaceful, gentle pace.