Daenseo-ui sunjeong

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.

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.

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.

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

Na Young-sae was once touted as the best dance trainer in Korea, and was in contention for another trophy during the national dance competition, until dirty underhand tactics by rivals ruined it all for him. Seeking a comeback, his manager and him hatched a plan to import a foreign talent from China, Jang Chae-rin, to partner with him and reclaim his spot at the top.

Alas, Chae-rin turns out to be the inexperienced teenage sister of the real mccoy, and Young-sae goes into a frenzy as the championships is only 3 months away. Reluctantly, and realizing the lack of time, Young-sae has no choice but to make do with what he has, and put his training skills to the test in turning a rookie into a professional ballroom dancer.

The storyline sounds familiar, like Dirty Dancing's, exploring the situational device of having a teacher and his protégé go through their lives together experiencing new found relationships through the language of dance. They start off awkwardly, and most of the time the plot focuses on the rigorous training in which Young-sae puts Chae-rin through. There is an unnecessary subplot though, of the marriage investigators who probe into the fake marriage between Young-sae and Chae-rin (that's the rouse used to get her to Korea), just to add to some laughs.

Dance has always been associated with passion, feelings and love. This movie doesn't stray from these themes, and the main leads heat up the screen with their sensual dance moves, albeit too little screen time. Just when you thought it's time for them to take on the championships and arch-rivals, the plot takes a twist, which I thought was probably an attempt to avoid being predictable.

Ladies might want to prepare your hankies for the emotional scene towards the end, where Young-sae and Chae-rin declares their love for each other indirectly at the marriage bureau. Extremely touching that, especially when you think back on their attempts to fabricate a fictional story on their relationship, which has taken on for real.

It is of course helpful that the two leads are eye candy. Park Keon-hyeong as Young-sae seemed to have the easier role of the mentor, snarling most of the time with a diva-ish, yet tender attitude towards his protégé. Mun Guen-yeong has the tougher role to flesh, transforming herself from simple naive girl into chic professional dancer, with a heart pining for Young-sae. The chemistry between the two is superb, and their dances together once they got their groove right, just magical.

Which of course brings me to my main gripe - I want more! But the attempt to make the story unconventional turned my request down, although the end credits featured a clip of them dancing, serving as some kind of compensation for the lack of dancing screen time. It's not the partner, but the partnership that mattered, said Young-sae. It rocked, and left me wanting more! Some might find it "been-there-done-that", but I recommend this for those who which to get jiggy with it on the dance floor. I found myself tapping to the soundtrack as we get whirled around the ballroom, and I'm sure ballroom dance lovers, or romantics at heart, will do the same too.