SYNOPSIS:
Jeong-wan is a 32-year-old photographer who has no desire to get married. When it comes to romance, she holds no illusions. She is seeing someone who is married. Then there is Hee-soo, her childhood friend who shocked everyone when she married a homely, pot-bellied man. An attractive housewife, Hee-soo sees her husband as a security blanket and a lifetime ticket to free spending. But all hell breaks loose when Jeong-wan finally meets her Prince Charming and Hee-soo realizes her only insurance in life is about to expire. Love and marriage were never meant to be this complicated - or are they?
MOVIE REVIEW:
Love Exposure is a movie about women made by women. Whether is it for women however is another matter. Because I’d like to think, whether from a guy or a girl’s perspective, that this movie is too bland to be enjoyed by either sex.
Less a comedy than a drama (especially if you’re thinking Sex and the City Korean-style), the story revolves around two women, both in their early 30s but still searching for that elusive thing called love. There’s Jung-Wan (Lee Mi-Yeon), a photographer involved with a handsome but married colleague. And then there’s her best friend, Hee-Soo (Lee Tae-Ran) whose marriage crumbles when she discovers that her husband is having an affair with a younger co-worker.
Ironic isn’t it? One’s an adulterer and the other’s a victim of adultery. But the pair are supposedly best friends so even though they recognise the irony of their positions, they only confront each other once. For the most part, they are simply content to lend each other support. And that’s a pity- because this conflict is probably the most interesting aspect of the film and sadly also the most underdeveloped.
What director E.Oni spends most of the time in her film on is the relationships Jung-Wan and Hee-Soo are involved in. So what we get is Jung-Wan’s on-off love affair and Hee-Soo’s fallout from her broken marriage. Unfortunately, very little happens in both- especially in the case of Jung-Wan- that there is simply not enough to sustain one’s attention or interest. So much so that when the happily-ever-after ending rolls along, it simply feels too forced and tacked on.
But one of the things that Love Exposure has going for it is the strength of its performances. Both Lee Mi-Yeon and Lee-Tae-Ran lend their characters enough sincerity to make you believe in the struggles Jung-Wan and Hee-Soo are facing. They also share good chemistry with each other which makes their friendship more believable than what the script sets them up to be.
In the end, Love Exposure is at best a missed opportunity. What may promise to be a saucy, sizzling, kim-chi flavoured take on urban romance just turns out conventional and, worse still, dull. It doesn’t help that it’s a supposed women’s take on the subject. Good movie or bad, some judgements I’d like to think, are unisex.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
None.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Picture looks good. Audio’s only presented in Dolby 2.0 but is still decent enough.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong
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