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If you have watched a Korean romantic drama from between 2002 and 2012, chances are, you have seen the base narrative of Innocent Steps; boy meets girl; at first, they do not get along, but chemistry builds, resulting in a budding relationship, which is then melodramatically tested. This is not a criticism; as the saying goes, 'if it ain't broke...' Despite a similar progression ark to other genre titles, Innocent Steps has a unique-enough premise, charming characters, over-the-top cuteness, intense emotions, and a laugh or two, managing to shoehorn in plenty of sub-genres and feelings into what amounts to a 100-minute movie.

Na Young-Sae (Park Gun-Hyung) was once an acclaimed national dance champion, until he was assaulted, on stage, by antagonistic rival Jung Hyun-Soo (Yun Chang). With this in mind, as the viewer, you do occasionally have to take moments with a grain of salt, the filmmakers adding scenes that heighten emotion, at the expense of logic. Not only was Young-Sae injured, his dance partner, Oh Mi-Soo (Jung Yoo-Mi) left him, a plot thread that is kept alive throughout the film, but never actually goes anywhere.

Bitter, but hoping for a comeback, Young-Sae is given an opportunity by dance manager Ma Sang-Doo (Park Won-Sang), who may or may not have the former champion's best interests at heart. Jang Chae-Rin (Moon Geun-Young), is a professional dancer from China, travelling to Korea, who could not only become Young-Sae's new partner, but give him a shot at the title he once lost. The addendum Chae-Rin only ever speaks Korean, even with family back home, does make her heritage a little less believable.

From the moment she is introduced, Chae-Rin is indescribably adorable, filling the movie with a genuine loveliness. Gullible, with strong, almost fairy-tale like views on life and love, she has a great passion for dance; if only she knew how to do it. Therein lies the problem; she's not the dancer Young-Sae was promised. Rather than give up on her, Young-Sae chooses to train Chae-Rin, their shared love of dance bringing them together.

Chae-Rin's naivety is occasionally good for a laugh, and juxtaposes well with Young-Sae's unflinching determination and serious attitude. To guarantee Chae-Rin can stay in Korea legally, she and Young-Sae conspire to have a fake marriage. This introduces us to two investigators (portrayed by Kim Ji-Young and Lee Dae-Yeon), who do not believe the validity of the couple. This particular sub-plot was included just for laughs, and honestly could have been removed from the film entirely, without affecting the overall narrative.

However, Chae-Rin's immigrant status is an issue that permeates the film, with those who want to hurt Young-Sae's chances at success threatening her, resulting in themes of race and class. These are merely used as window-dressing to tug at our heartstrings and make Chae-Rin more vulnerable. Hyun-Soo's arrogant desire to beat Young-Sae further results in powerful melodrama that threatens the pair, though the film's 'villain' is barely afforded any back-story, and is just a typical one-dimensional bad guy.

Nevertheless, Innocent Steps is unafraid of including moments that are heart-wrenching, made more so by the chemistry between the two leads. Without this poignancy, the film would not be as powerful as it can be, the film's final quarter been filled with great melancholy.

As with many romantic dramas, the music, especially the gentle piano tracks, are used to let the audience know how to feel, though at times, no score is included during powerful scenes, really drawing attention to the actors and their emotions, which is a good inclusion. On another note, kudos ought to be given to the film's dance choreography, which adds an even greater sense of flare to the visual magic between the characters.

For all of its cliché melodrama, Innocent Steps does stand out from the pack. Its story of redemption, loyalty, sacrifice and love, strikes a balance between powerful and basic; lovely and sorrowful, the believability of its two leads making the otherwise simple film enjoyable. Warning: fans of Korean dramas may be reduced to a blubbering mess by the end.

I really enjoyed this and have watched it more than once, good story plenty of drama, nothing wrong with this you should enjoy it

A lot of people are not keen on watching Korean movies. The language sounds weird the first time you hear, the style is something that you're not used to, but I'm very happy that I gave this movie a chance. It's a sincere and sweet romantic comedy and it's much better than a lot of movies in this style. The scenes and emotions are not pushed but feel natural. The acting from both leads in most scenes is really good. On top of that, it's a movie about dancing and the leads can dance well, they have good posture, etc. Their body types are correct for it, too. Especially the guy looked great as a dancer! You don't feel like they took two celebrities and just put them in shiny dancing clothes.

Typical underdog story about a fallen dance champ (Park Kyon-hyeong) forced pair up with a mousy Korean-Chinese immigrant (Moon Geun-young from A TALE OF TWO SISTERS) in need of citizenship in order to take back the crown. Plays all the familiar notes from just about any sport competition movie you'd care to remember, but cleverly opts out of the usual, predictable triumphant ending by having Moon enter the big dance finals with with Park's dirty rival (!). Moon's a doll in this, as she has been in everything she's been in so far (think LOVER'S CONCERTO or better yet, MY LITTLE BRIDE). WIth a face seemingly purpose-built for crying at the slightest hint of heartbreak, she can only be a natural; her character has to remain doe-eyed and lovestruck with Park, and typically selfless in spite of his harsh ways, while becoming a seasoned professional dancer in a very short period of time. Another reason I like a movie like this: the leads are actually required to DANCE. Their routines are modest, but frequent long tales reveal that they did indeed learn some killer moves. The championship dance is built from editing more than performer skill, but one can still see the effort being applied.

Unless one truly is a well-rounded person or likes all kinds of film genres, some may not be aware that movies involving dance is actually a thing. Although if anyone has seen a musical, play or live performance one could easily realize this. There are however stories that revolve around dance but do not involve the actors or characters breaking out into song either. No matter what though, dance is an undeclared love language in some cultures because it truly can bring people together. Now to those even more unfamiliar to the international market, dance can obviously cross over into other countries. South Korea is no different. For every Step Up (2006), there will be other movies that are in the same genre. Of course the film would have its own cultural twist on it though.

The story is about Na Young-sae (Keon-hyeong Park), a renowned dancer and teacher who almost made it to the finals if he wasn't sabotaged by his opponent Jung Hyun-soo (Chang Yun) at the last moment. This ended up leaving Young-sae with a bum leg and out of commission. Trying to help, his manager Ma Sang-doo (Park Won-Sang) finds Jang Chae-rin (Moon Geun-young) a Korean raised in China. However, it turns out she does not know how to dance and it's up to Young-sae to teach her for them to both make the rematch against his rival. Written by Gye-ok and Young-hoon Park, the narrative is a wholesome one about redemption and learning from failure with the support from others. Gye-ok Park has had experience working in Korean film before and Young-hoon Park who also directed this feature has also worked in other films with stars like Lee Byung-hun.

Overall the writing is decent. It contains a blend of romance, drama and even small amounts of comedic moments from the main cast and even side characters. Moon Geun-young who rose to fame after My Little Bride (2004) a year before still has her youthful characteristics here. Her character is more mature though and displays those moments accurately. Keon-hyeong Park shows how troubled his character is after his fall from grace and then being paired up with someone with less experience than him. Together both show likeable chemistry and have their tender moments. Park Won-Sang as Young-sae's manager performs fine. The character itself though is a bit abusive though. One would almost think the same for Chang Yun as Jung Hyun-soo although it is never shown. Yun as Hyun-soo plays quite a confident character and will stop at nothing to succeed.

The part of the writing that is less clear are some of the questionable decisions various side characters make. Perhaps this goes back to Korean culture during the 2000s? Not sure but some of it is weird in the sense that it would be seen as uncalled for. That or the fact that after some individuals' action to another, the two still remain friendly. It's a little bizarre considering how out of hand some situations become. Since this is a film involving dance, this component can't be left out. The choreography for the dancing sequences are well executed and performed by the actors. When it comes to nailing down moves and rhythm, one must imagine how much practice that takes to get it right. Pretty much nothing to point out as a flaw there.

For cinematography, the camerawork was handled by Jong-yun Kim. For what the film shows, the scenes are well lit and capture the right actions to be seen. What's interesting is seeing how Young-sae began in his apartment, only to see how Chae-rin brings his world to life in several ways. One aspect maybe that could've been done better was the CGI which is minimally used to begin with. As for the music in the film, Man-sik Choi composed the score which there does seem to be an album available. For whatever's heard, the score does bring out the right emotions for the scenes filmed. Much of the instruments heard among the tracks are performed on piano The one song though that seems to be popular is "1000 Years" by Kang Eunsu, which was the main song for the two main characters. It is memorable in its own way.

The simple digital elements to the feature along with some out of touch character decisions are just small flaws within this dance romance film. The actors are likeable, the music is easy listening and the dancing is mesmerizing.