I’m a Cyborg, but that’s OK
Whenever I blog about a movie, I would first check out its Wikipedia article first. (Yes, I hate Wikipedia, but I can’t help but using it…) I was so surprised when I saw that this movie was actually a box-office flop, especially considering the fact that I hated “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” (not to be confused with “Sympathy for Mrs. Vengeance” which was absolutely gorgeous) and that didn’t do all too bad at the box-office.
What could have made this movie fail? I have no idea, besides… it’s a love comedy and not some gory drama? Really, it features everything that I would wish a love comedy would contain: Good-looking, unusual characters, great cinematography and CG, a suspenseful story and especially a great ending. Of course this is not exactly your typical Park Chan-wook movie, but it is – more than your typical love comedy – a great depiction of human character with good actors.
Recently, I have been ranking my favourite Park Chan-woo movies. They are clearly as follows:
1. JSA
2. Old Boy
3. I’m a Cyborg, but that’s OK
4. Sympathy for Mrs. Vengeance, and far behind
5. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
I’m looking forward to his next film now…
Cheers for reminding me about this one – I was looking forward to Park’s next effort, especially when I learned that it was a bizarre romance instead of a revenge story! The fact that Im Su-jeong (who I remember from A Tale of Two Sisters) stars in it piqued my interest, but I can’t wait to see how Park’s dry humour translates to a more brightly-toned film.
TBH I wasn’t as keen on Mr Vengeance either – Oldboy was more powerful somehow (if a little more twisted) but Lady Vengeance was my favourite of the three…it’s stunning in every sense. IIRC Park was also involved in a movie called The Humanist, but that had all the gritty ‘eek!’ factor of the Vengeance trilogy but none of the moral questioning, which was disappointing. Still, I’ll make a mental note to add JSA to my ever-growing ‘to watch’ list!