Baramnan gajok

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.

This South Korean film dealing with the traumas of a fading marriage is deftly written, acted and shot. It deals with universal issues related to certain life stages with courage and sincerity, the characters are superbly drawn, the plot subtly moves and leaves the viewer with deep feelings and thoughts only such well-crafted and memorable films can.

This is less of a movie than a very extended soap opera. An apparently conscientious young Korean attorney has an affair while his sexually frustrated wife goes looking elsewhere for fulfillment. Apparently he's lousy in bed since both of his women seem to spend an inordinate amount of time in post-coital masturbation. Meanwhile his mother finds love elsewhere as his father lies dieing while his young and tasty assistant yearns for the day when she can make his triangle a square. Altogether it provides a fascinating insight into Korean society, that being - they're just like Americans - or maybe, more specifically, just like Manhattanites - those in Sex and the City, for example.

If this movie has anything deeper to say than "get it while you can" it keeps it well hidden. The tragedy which brings the attorney's marriage - and the movie - to its inevitable conclusion seems to have nothing to do with the plot other than to provide it with a convenient resolution. Still its refreshing to see sexual relationships, marital and otherwise, portrayed in such a frank and nonjudgmental manner. Pity that the film continued about 45 minutes beyond the point that I stopped caring.

When a woman by the name of "Eun Ho-jung" (So-ri Moon) isn't busy raising an adopted son named "Joo Soo-in" (Joon-yeong Jang) she also has been tasked to take care of her father-in-law who is extremely ill due to alcoholism. Needless to say, these duties leave very little time for Eun to spend on herself and as a result she becomes bored and lonely. Little does she know that her husband "Joo Young-jak" (Jung-min Hwang) is having an affair with another woman and because of that he spends very little time satisfying her sexual needs. This causes her to become quite sexually frustrated as well. But that all changes one night when she notices a voyeur spying on her while she is at home and totally naked. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay South Korean drama which, surprisingly, includes a number of scenes involving sex and nudity. Unfortunately, the lack of good character development caused a bit of confusion for me at times and gave the film a rather shallow feel in the process. At least, that is how it seemed to me. In any case, despite the criticism just mentioned I didn't think that this was necessarily a bad film overall and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Average.

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.