Misseu Hongdangmu (2008)

Director:

Kyoung-mi Lee

Writers:

Kyoung-mi Lee (screenplay)
Chan-wook Park (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 October 2008 (South Korea)

Genre:

Comedy

Cast

Hyo-jin Kong	...	Yang Mi-sook
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eun-jin Bang	...	Seong Eun-gyo
Joon-ho Bong	...	Cameo
Woo-seul-hye Hwang	...	Lee Yoo-ri
Da-eun Lee
Jong-hyeok Lee	...	Seo Jong-cheol
Woo Seo	...	Seo Jong-hee

Also Known As:

Crush and Blush (International: English title)

Runtime:

South Korea:101 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Singapore:NC-16

Darkly comic character piece that makes you care for messed up people

Crush and Blush is the debut directorial effort of Lee Kyoungmi, a protégé of Park Chanwook. It's a somewhat dark comedy character piece with a quirky sense of humor and has the remarkable ability to make you care for some rather difficult people.

The story centers around the titular Miss Carrot, whose real name is Misook (Kong Hyojin), a middle school English teacher who is hated by her students and is teaching a language she doesn't even know. Of course, she's always been ostracized and perhaps, as a result, she's developed quite a nasty defeatist outlook on life. Oh, and she suffers from a condition that results in her face flushing red whenever she gets worked up, which is quite often. It also so happens that she has a longstanding crush on her coworker (and former teacher), a married teacher and constantly obsesses over him. Things go from bad to worse for Misook when she discovers that Lee Yuri, a fellow language teacher, has been having an affair with the object of Misook's crush. Devastated, she finds an ally in the similarly lower caste daughter of her crush, Jonghee (Seo Woo) and they vow to break up the affair.

The story itself starts a little roughly, but at the same time it does an excellent job introducing the fairly nutty protagonist. The humor itself is rather observational and tinted darkly, dryly putting up the problems that lie beneath the surface of our souls (vanity, jealousy, lust) into its characters and while the characters do go into hysterics (especially the mania prone protagonist), but the tone still manages to remain rather steady, which makes the increasingly ridiculous behavior of the characters seem that much more silly. Ultimately, although things get a little less focused after the midway point on the movie, this is a largely involving character study about obsession, but also about friendship as we find the two school loners find each other.

The acting, lead by Kong is superb. Granted, I think I've always appreciated her work, usually playing off-beat characters, since I first saw her in Conduct Zero. She really gets into the character and doesn't let the fact that the character is unattractive stop her from really bringing Misook to life and instilling her with enough humanity that we care at the same time we are repulsed. All the other players do a great job filling out their various roles as well, including Misook's counterpart, the oft bewildered crush, the naive and empathetic rival Yuri and the stone-faced practical wife. The production is overall solid, considering the rather simple nature of the film.

I won't say that everybody can enjoy this piece and it's not without its flaws, including some choppy exposition and a slowdown in story after the middle point, but the characters are fascinating and the humor is precisely the type that dark humor lovers will find enjoyable. As such, it's recommended for those that like darkly funny character pieces. And as a plus, despite all the mean and misguided characters, you still cheer for them when they get things right. How great is that? 7/10.