Crush and Blush
AKA: Misseu Hongdangmu
Dir. Lee Kyeong-Mi (South Korea 2008)
Rating: 3 out of 4 Stars (good)
Capsule Review by: David Austin

CRUSH AND BLUSH PLAYS AT THE IFC CENTER ON JUNE 24 AT 9:15 PM AND ON JUNE 25 AT 5:00 PM. SEE THE FULL SCHEDULE HERE

Koreans filmmakers have proven themselves to be masters of the losers-in-love comedy in films like The Foul King and Please Teach Me English. In Crush and Blush, director Lee Kyeong-Mi and actress Kong Hyo-Jin add to the tradition with a sharply edited, wickedly funny story about a social outcast who never got over her crush on her teacher and is willing to go to absurd efforts to secure his attentions.

Kong turns in a outsize performance as Yang Me-Sook, an angry little sparkplug who harbors a whale-sized crush on Mr. Seo (Lee Jeong-Hyeok), a married teacher who hardly seems worth all the attention. Considering how unmemorable Kong’s turn in Lee Myung-Se’s M was, I would not have thought her capable of such a unique, uniquely awful role. In Crush and Blush (so-named because of her constantly reddening complexion), Kong’s Me-Sook is truly brilliant comic creation – a stalker too pathetic to be threatening, but pathological enough to be dangerous. She spies on Mr. Seo’s wife, worships him from afar and, when she finds out that Mr. Seo may be carrying out an affair with dim Lee Yu-Ri, her prettier rival in the Russian literature department, makes it her mission to ruin the woman’s life.

Director Lee Kyeong-Mi puts the viewer in an awkward position of empathizing with a clearly deluded protagonist. While Me-Sook’s hijinks are funny, there is always a genuine harm floating in the background, be it the humiliation of the sweet but stupid Lee or understated agony of Mr. Seo’s wife, who is clearly all too aware of her husband’s fallibilities. The bigger problem is Me-Sook’s influence on the Seo’s daughter, Jong-Hee (Woo Seo). It is clear from the start that Me-Sook and Jong-Hee are kindred spirits. Jong-Hee too is the loser of her class, a sullen weirdo who evokes a Beetlejuice era Winona Ryder. The two bond over their supposed efforts to save the Seo’s marriage from Lee, however, even as they become friends, Me-Sook heedlessly pursues her own agenda.

Dark as the material is, Crush and Blush is extremely funny. Until the slightly flat final act, where she loses the light touch and sure hand that made the rest of the film so enjoyable, director Lee stages the comedy perfectly, using rapid-fire editing, layered narrative and carefully crafted voiceovers to bring us into Me-Sook’s mind without ever adopting her worldview. The direction is flashy but never intrusive, allowing the cast the carry the bulk of the story on their able shoulders. I look forward to more from Lee and Kong Hyo-Jin. Oh, and I would be remiss if I did not go out of my way to mention Hwangwoo Seul-Hye’s performance as Lee Yu-Ri. Hwangwoo hits the perfect note of pretty but insecure and proves fearless when it comes to some very unflattering scenes.

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If You Are the One
AKA: Fei Cheng Wu Rao
Dir. Lee Kyeong-Mi (South Korea 2008)
Rating: 3 out of 4 Stars (good)
Capsule Review by: David Austin

IF YOU ARE THE ONE PLAYS AT THE IFC CENTER ON JUNE 24 AT 4:00 PM AND ON JULY 1 AT 9:30 PM. SEE THE FULL SCHEDULE HERE

Feng Xiaogang must have a streak of melancholy a mile wide. Whether taking on wu xias in The Banquet (see review here), historical war epics in Assembly (see review here) or romantic comedies, as in this years If You Are the One, Feng seems most at home dealing with tragedy. It’s an unusual trait in such a crowd-pleasing director, but Feng’s films have been huge successes and it may be a case of differing cultural expectations.

If starts out on a light note, with novelty inventor Qin Fen (Ge You) selling out for big money (his Conflict Resolution Terminal is the best filmic novelty plot device I’ve seen since Made in China). Cash in hand, the middle-aged Qin immediately places the most realistic personal ad in recorded history and sets out on a dating odyssey in order to find a compatible wife. As Eddie Murphy proved in Coming to America, bad date montages are almost always comedy gold; this one is no exception. Eventually, he meets Smiley Liang (Shu Qi), a stewardess carrying on an affair with a married man (Alex Fong). At first, she considers him an annoyance, then a welcome distraction, and finally a potential companion. However, even as his affection for her grows, she makes clear that her heart has already been broken beyond repair.

Ge You, who first caught my eye in Zhang Yimou’s To Live, is always excellent, but this is the best performance I have seen out of Shu Qi (a former soft-core starlet) since her self-parodying turn in Viva Erotica, Derek Yee’s ode to Category III films. Though she has achieved both mainstream and arthouse success since, Shu displays a level of vulnerability and weariness here that far outweighs her work in for Hou Hsiao-Hsien in films like Millennium Mambo. Perhaps it’s a case of the right actress for the right role, a beauty on the verge of aging and starting to consider her life, but Shu plays Liang perfectly.

The sole issue I had with the film, unfortunately, is also one of casting. While Ge and Shu are individually excellent and I found their friendship convincing, there is no romantic chemistry between the two. Platonic friends, sure, but lovers, no. I may be harping on the wrong point, though. Feng crafts the film in such a way that the lack of sexual tension might be intentional.

© David Austin