plot //short synopsis
Ho-jung, a scriptwriter at a local radio station is waiting for her boyfriend, Won-jae, to come back from France and fulfill his promise of proposing to her. Won-jae returns from his studies and brings a friend, Dong-hwa, with whom he is planning on opening a restaurant.
spoilers //what I didn't like
The movie starts with Ho-jung and her colleague, Jin-young, giving advice over the radio to young girls on how to 'help' their shy boyfriends. It looks like a harmeless radio session, the atmosphere is nice, but then Ho-jung suggests that the girls should get their boyfriends drunk and give them sleeping pills. Excuse me? That was the moment I knew I would absolutely dislike Ho-jung and I carried on with that mindset throughout the movie. Unfortunately that wasn't the only thing that made me dissaprove of Ho-jung. Later in the movie she got confessed to by Moon-ki, her superior, and she led him on by telling him "I think we should get to know each other better first" and that he needs to wait until she "proves herself" and "stand on her own". You see, Ho-jung really wanted a promotion as a DJ on her radio programme and so it happened that Moon-ki could help that become possible. Knowing this it becomes pretty clear what Ho-jung's intentions were and what she must have thought when he declared his love for her.
There were two other instances of radio talk that made me angry at Ho-jung. On one of these instances, Ho-jung had her friend talk about her relationship with a rich man. This friend talked about how women seek rich men to marry and about how they should "put themselves down" in order to achieve it. Needless to say that Ho-jung was wholeheartedly approving of her friend. The second instance was when they got a call from a married man seeking advice about his wife who recently came out as gay. Ho-jung was quick to take the woman's side talking about how hard it must have been for her to realize she was gay after years of marriage and kids, but later when she found out about Wo-jae and Dong-hwa, after they confirmed to her that they love each other, she asked Won-jae if he is sick.
From these events and reactions we know Ho-jung has low self-esteem, is a hypocrite, would do almost anything if it means she gains something, is willing to put herself down in front of others and her boyfriend coming out as gay (because apparently there is no such thing as bisexual in this movie) must mean he's sick.
Now don't think I only have a problem with Ho-jung, oh no, far from it, but the movie mostly follows Ho-jung so I don't really know much about the other characters. However, I do know that Won-jae did promise Ho-jung to marry her after he returns from France and he did lead her on for two whole years while he was having a relationship with Dong-hwa, falling in love and enjoying Paris together. He was in the wrong here, I appreciate him trying to explain himself and to apologise, but I don't think he should be forgiven. Not easily at least. On the other hand, Ho-jung did get Won-jae drunk and gave him slipping pills while they were dating so I can't help but wonder if Won-jae didn't date her simply because he didn't understand his feelings, he didn't have a chance to explore his sexuality, and was forced (raped, he was raped) into a relationship with Ho-jung.
When it comes to Dong-hwa, he's the one of the trio that I know almost nothing about. There was no backgrund to him apart from a past relationship and I don't really know what makes him tick. What I do know is that he is a cheating bastard and from that point of view him and Won-jae deserve each other. Heck, all three deserve each other.
After all the suffering and blaming that's going on upon Ho-jung discovering the relationship, she threatens Won-jae to tell his mother about it unless he agrees to date her for a month. I think Ho-jung would have done it if Won-jae wouldn't have agreed to it. She might have come to regret it, but when she said that she meant it. She knew Won-jae was afraid of coming out and she took advantage of that with no regard on what that might mean for Won-jae. Even more things to dislike Ho-jung for.
By the end of the movie things get complicated, the tree part ways and they are reunited in the last few minutes. I think there should have been a conclusion to their characters, some sort of resolve, maybe growth, but all I got was confusion. It's not clear to me how Won-jae coped with everything, I don't know what Dong-hwa was really up to, and I have no clue if Ho-jung learned something or she was the same, but with a different hairstyle. I can't pinpoint any sort of character development.
overall //whatever else
Reading the reviews for this movie the opinions are almost fifty-fifty with slightly more people liking this movie than not, but I can't find that many reviews and I don't know what everyone's rating criteria is so I can't say for sure.
What I do know is that this movie made me angry because apart from Ho-jung and everything that is wrong with her, I didn't like how some things were portrayed, namely gay relationship and the suggestion that gay men are more likely to cheat, and the complete erasure of bisexuality. For a LGBTQ+ movie it did a really poor job in that area.
And the ending was so unsalted. Besides the mystery around the characters, I half get the ending half don't. It's not at all clear where everyone stands, what they did, what they are planning on doing, I don't even know what the options are and the saddest part is that I'm not even curious about it.
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