Cha Young-goon (played by Im Su-jeong) develops a mental illness after her schizophrenic grandmother is interned and separated from her. Cha believes she is a killer cyborg and does not eat, and has been told that she has to master a cyborg's seven steps of perfection to get rid of her human psyche and be able to seek revenge on her grandma's captors - the men in white (paramedics and nurses). When interned, Cha meets Park Il-soon (played by Rain) a Ping-Pong player antisocial guy that steals other people's souls, who takes an immediate interest in her.
What makes this film so especial is that the movie offers the reality both as the insane see it, from their subjective point of view, but also as what it is, that is from an objective point of view. In fact, the real facts are used more to anchor the story and make the rest understandable than to focus on the reality itself. The craziness, manias and obsessions of the insane are presented as an essential part of their personality, not as an aberration of the same, therefore, the para-reality they live in becomes real and acceptable for the viewer. More importantly, the script does not try to redeem the characters from their insanity, but make that insanity meaningful and tolerable for their survival. It could have been really easy to present the insane as pathologically aggressive and nasty, as most movies about madness do, or like loonies without feelings or real human heart, but the script deviates from the obvious and presents a surreal world that is full of magic, pain, suffering and happiness, in which different people with a different pathology are able to tick and connect to a deep human level.
All the characters are treated with empathy, tenderness, warmth, naivety and a great sense of humour. The characters' studio combined with a light playful approach to the stories works perfectly on the screen and makes the craziness completely engaging. The movie is also a good reflection on personal identity and how important is the way we internally see ourselves to position ourselves in society and the world.
The film is extremely stylish and artistic, too, from the credits, to the cinematography, to the lighting. The beginning credits scene is fantastic as they are presented incorporated into the story, too. The initial scenes of Cha working in her factory before she tries to "recharge her batteries" are grand class: the contrast and sharpness of the colours and the camera angling and scene pacing create a wonderful eye candy moment that is a big contrast to the rest of the movie, dominated by pastel and white-ish colours. The movie has many surreal and dream-like scenes, beautifully filmed, which really help to convey the reality as perceived by the insane.
Although the movie is catalogued everywhere as a romantic story, to reduce this story to a romance is to devalue a film that has much more to offer. Romance is just another piece in the puzzle, the one that gives its magic to the story, the redemptive element of Cha's survival; it develops piano-piano, but is not cheesy but wonderfully quirky and special.
All cast members are good in their respective roles, and the main actors, Im an Rain (and the actress who plays the food-obsessed lady) are believable in their portray of their fragile but complex characters.
My main critique to the movie is its pacing, that is sometimes a bit too slow, and the cohesion among all the insane in the asylum, which is obvious in some parts of the movie, but it is not well explained or shown at times. I would have liked that the director used strong colours for the whole movie, which would have been much more intriguing and worked perfectly with the stories, instead of the expected asylum whites and pastels; still, this is a personal preference, not a critique.
This is a mesmerising movie for non-mainstream film lovers. It has something special and unique that will stay with you for a long time.
The movie won the Alfred Bauer Award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2007.
