This Charming Girl

Colour, 35 mm
Korea, 2004, 99 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

"This Charming Girl is an ordinary girl?s story about love. However, this charming girl called Jeong-hae is not the kind of girl who is thirsting for passion, dreaming of rose-coloured love, or chasing after that dream," says the director. The people who encounter the attractive Jeong-hae every day think perhaps that she is a bit strange. She is good and quiet, although she comes off a bit cool, as if she’s been cut off from the real world. One day is like another - waking in the morning, travelling to work, lunching with colleagues, watching television in the evening. The young woman finds it impossible to openly communicate with the world; deep pain is hidden within her, but it could be cured by love. Maybe she could fall for the shy writer who often turns up at the post office where she works. Whenever the young man appears, Jeong-hae’s face lights up. But sometimes breaking the barriers of fear and painful memories is difficult. Actress Kim Ji-soo stole the show with this, her first big role.

About the director

Lee Yoon-ki (b. 1965, Daejeon, Korea) graduated in economics from the University of Southern California. In 1994 he produced the short film Contempt (dir. Kim Jin-han), winner of several awards. The next year he shot his own short, My Kind of Love, which he took to the second Seoul Short Film Festival. This Charming Girl is his feature debut; it took the main prize New Currents Award at the Pusan IFF. The film was screened at other festivals, including Sundance (World Cinema Dramatic Competition) and the Berlinale (Forum section). At present, the director is getting ready to shoot his acclaimed script Love Talk, which deals with the lives of Korean immigrants in the United States.