Yeoja, Jeong-hye

I watched this film the evening after watching X-Men: The Last Stand in part to help wash out the bad taste X3 left in my mouth. This Charming Girl is a quiet introspective film about the life of a post office worker.

The protagonist, is quiet, shy and introverted and just a little bit quirky. A meticulous cleaner, we watch the unfolding of her daily events and slowly, over the course of the movie, we see the connections of her daily activities to past events in her life through a series of blended flashbacks.

The film is meditative and places you inside the life of Jeong-Hae, by asking you to participate with her as she adopts a cat, spends time with her coworkers and explores the more mundane facets of her life. However, as the layers are peeled back into her past, the film does a great job of building empathy for her, especially in light of her past tragedies and scars, and when the situations become slightly less mundane, all the tensions in her past come to light in a controlled, but emotionally potent way. In the end, we understand part of why Jeong-Hae is the way she is thanks to the meticulous study of her behavior and activities along with the insight into her memories.

The directing is impressive in that the director manages to bring the audience into the life of Jeong-Hae with only her daily activities and their connections to the initially mundane-seeming activities in her past. The film is not dialogue heavy and yet it doesn't really drag because of this or the fact that a lot of the film progresses in small steps.

However, this is not a film for the impatient or for those who are afflicted with ADD. The film does take its time, letting the viewer become acquainted with Jeong-Hae in her quiet moments, but at the same time, there isn't a whole lot of action in the traditional sense. In order for a viewer to get something out of this picture, the viewer has to be willing to explore, question and investigate Jeong-Hae in her interactions and activities. That's probably asking a lot out of the typical American film-goer.

Still, the overall impact of the film is quite potent if you're willing to explore it and is quite affecting in the end. I liked it. 8/10.

a synopsis as the narrative is slight, and secondary to Ji-su Kims extraordinary portrayal of a human beings inner space. Within minutes I had completely forgotten I was watching a work of fiction, I know of no other movie that explorers the interior life of its characters so intimately. Shot almost entirely with a hand-held camera, and with a restrained unobtrusive soundtrack, this movie follows Jeong-hye, an introverted post office worker through her day. As the story unfolds, this reserved and seemingly unemotional woman is shown to be a deep and complex personality deserving of our respect. Inspirational film-making of the highest calibre.

I sat for two hours loving this woman, and feeling sorry for her, hoping for her. That's what is supposed to happen when you watch a well-executed character study.

If you were to look up "boring art house film" in some film dictionary you might find the plot synopsis for This Charming Girl listed as the definition: The film follows Jung-hye's quiet life and reveals the landscape of the character's inner feelings.

Jung-hye has forged her own life out of simplicity and solitude as the result of some trauma earlier in her life. The film doesn't focus on what that trauma is or how Jung-hye may eventually resolve it. Instead, it focuses on the mundane life she has made for herself as a result. We watch her feed her cat, cook herself meals, go to a job at an uneventful workplace. This is not an action movie. It's an extremely slow burn that leads to one very intense scene which involves a knife. It's an intense scene not because anything crazy happens but because we can see all of the repressed emotions inside this woman come boiling to the top. And we can see this happening because Kim Ji-Su's performance is nothing short of phenomenal.

No use going into more detail about the events of the film. It's better to see them for yourself. If you like well-written, well-acted, meticulously directed character studies This Charming Girl is one of the best ones out there. Even though it is art house to the max, there isn't a pretentious moment in the film.

A director with a great eye for detail creates characters you really get to know and love. The film is carefully shot and very moving. The visual detail is simply amazing. For instance, the scenes that show the main character at work really build up a picture of this particular job. To mention anything at all about the plot would be to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it. It's better not to know what to expect in a film like this, especially since it doesn't fit into any of the usual pigeonholes. The script is so well written that each surprise seems quite inevitable when you think back on it. And seeing it a second time, you get to appreciate the amazing photography. The performances are totally convincing. The best film I've seen in ages.

My Charming Girl inserts the viewer into the life of a rather plain girl with bad skin, ugly hands and feet, a boring job, and mild schizophrenia. The movie is at pains to demonstrate her classic symptoms, complete with flat emotions, apathy, seeing imaginary people, and mild paranoia. Her symptom of increased suggestibility, demonstrated by her reactions to advice about shoes and marriage, provides the context for the climax of the film.

The camera lingers on every shot, creating in the viewer the languid mood of the girl. The cinematography is very good, and there are some visual touches, such as shop names and an image of a leering Colonel Sanders, that accent the film and foreshadow the plot development.

This is the kind of film that makes a good topic for a college essay, but is not particularly enjoyable to watch. However, it does provide a view into everyday life in Korea, which may be of interest.