Ballerina
Director: Lee Chung-kyun
Year: 2023
Rating: 7.5
Country: Korea
First and foremost, this is a love story. A tender
one between two young women, one who was directionless and the other wanting
to be a ballerina. Whether it was a sexual relationship is left unsaid, but
certainly one of deep friendship. They clicked from the moment Ok-ju went
into a bakery shop to buy a birthday cake - for herself. Min-hee was behind
the counter and she laughed when she heard this and asked her what kind.
This one. Chocolate mint and they ate it together. And became friends who
shared nearly everything. Nearly. Ok-ju is a professional killer who tells
her friend that she is a bodyguard - and Min-hee has her secrets as well.
Ok-ju had not heard from Min-hee for a while and so when she gets a call
saying that her friend needed to see her, she rushes over. She finds her
dead in the bathtub, a suicide. Leaving a short note. Avenge me with only
a small notation. This is what you do for friends.
And that is pretty much the plot. Ok-ju
doesn't have much to go on but this is what she is good at. Very little of
her background is given but once the action starts, you get a feeling that
she excels at her job. In fact, in the first scene she goes into a convenience
store where four punks are beating up the cashier - she intrudes - can I
buy this bag of chips - and I want change - I will just take it from these
guys - and beats the hell out of them with a can of pineapples. That was
easy. This is much harder. The man who was responsible for her friend's suicide
is a sicko - with a closet full of bondage equipment and multiple tapes of
his drugging girls and having sex with them. Then blackmail. There is only
one thing to do. Revenge. For her friend. She is the bait. Or is she the
hunter. A brutal fight takes place - turns out he is only a cog in a female
and drug trafficking gang. He is ordered to find her and kill her. Doesn't
matter. She wants to kill them all.
Ok-ju is played by Jeon Jong-seo who has
a reputation as a rising star in Korea. She is relentless here. A rare smile
creeps in from time to time with her friend in the short flashbacks, but
otherwise she is all business and the business is killing. Good to have a
professional killer as a friend. Especially if you are dead. This is directed
by Lee Chung-hyun who gives the film noir like colors, neon and darkness.
It looks terrific and he makes some interesting choices on where to set the
camera. On YouTube there is a Making Of with him, the Music Director and
the Art Director that is quite good. Lee looks to be a teenager, but I assume
he is a bit older than that. There really isn't as much action as one might
expect and at times the camera blinks so we don't see it - just the aftermath
- looking as pretty as a picture in red but the finale is one of those great
one woman against thirty men scenarios and the camera does not blink. Dark
and woeful.
