Art Museum by the Zoo ("Misulgwan yup Dongmulwon")
Most people with at least a passing interest in Korean cinema are no doubt familiar The Way Home, Lee Jeong-hyang's 2002 surprise hit about a selfish young boy sent to the countryside to stay with his elderly and mute grandmother. The film is bare bones in just about every aspect, with even most of its actors having never been in a film before. However, it is a prime example of efficient and fundamental filmmaking. The surprise isn't so much that the director is female, which is rare even here in the states, but that it was only the second film she had directed. Lee's first (and only other) film is the equally impressive Art Museum by the Zoo from way back in 1998. I have to admit this one's been waiting on my shelf for the past 5 years and I never felt the need to watch it since it was just another romantic comedy I'd have to sit through. Not that there's anything wrong with this genre, it just took me 5 years to get in the mood to knowingly watch one. Now I wish I got in that mood much earlier because this is a wonderful piece of work. The film stars Shim Eun-ha (Tell Me Something) as a cute wannabe screenwriter who comes home to her apartment one day to discover Lee Sung-jae (Public Enemy), a soldier on leave waiting for his girlfriend who he has yet to discover has moved from the residence and is getting married to someone else. With nowhere to go, and having already paid the month's past due rent to the landlord while waiting, he crashes with the girl who reluctantly takes him in out of pity and because he insists he has no interest in her. All highly unlikely, I know, but what the film makes of the situation script-wise was clever, entertaining, and moreover a tribute to the art of film and storytelling itself. It made me feel like I was watching a Korean version of one of Woody Allen's "early, funny ones," sans the New York fixation and Jew jokes, which is a good thing. I greatly enjoyed the characters' dialogue throughout the film as they argued over what should and shouldn't go into the screenplay, which he discovers she is writing during his stay. She wants to write a fairytale love story, he thinks successful films must stick to defined genre guidelines, and along the way as their relationship develops so do the characters of the screenplay, who appear as on screen characters in several small segments. One of those characters is played by the venerable Ahn Sung-ki (Strokes of Fire, Festival), whose appearance I now recall is the only reason I purchased the film in the first place.
Perhaps the best part of all is that for a romantic comedy it is cheese-free. Not one cheesy or corny moment the entire way through. That must be some kind of record. The ending as well is perfect in its own required way, and didn't suffer from the forced emotional climax you would normally expect from this genre. But this all goes in hand with what this film says about storytelling, moviemaking and, of course, love.
Conclusion: If you enjoy films that tribute filmmaking, contain clever dialogue about life and love, and package it all without cornball jokes and cheesy forced romance, then this is definitely a buy.
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