Do You Like Bears in Spring
Director: Yi Yong
Year: 2003
Rating: 5.0
Country: Korea
Aka -
Spring Bears Love
As you might be able to tell by the poster
for this film and others of a similar bent, this film was promoted as a nutty,
goofy teenage romantic comedy and it isn't really that at all. Yes, it is
a comedy and sort of a romance but it is very low-key, artsy, quiet and would
barely register except for the fact that the lead actress is Bae Doo-na.
I could watch Bae Doo-na in anything. She is one of the most natural actors
around and has a face that is astonishingly expressive with the merest flicker
of change in her mouth or eyes. Hers isn't anything remotely close to a classical
beautiful Korean actress face - her front teeth jut out a tiny bit, her nose
is too large and looking for greener pastures, her eyes don't sparkle and
her mouth slopes downward enough to keep your distance. But when she is on
screen, you can't look away. I love her as the wife and mother in Saving
My Hubby fighting off gangsters, the North Korean grim ping pong star in
As One, the pickpocket in Tube, the vengeful sister in Host, the doctor in
the zombie TV show Kingdom and especially as the Korean girl in the Japanese
girl's band in the wonderful Linda, Linda, Linda. Early in the film, she
peels a hard-boiled egg and eats it with such a look of satisfaction that
I literally had to go to my refrigerator and eat one.
Here she plays Hyun-chae who once had a
dream to become an airplane hostess and see the world. Instead, she has ended
up working as a cashier in a supermarket knowing none of her dreams will
ever come true. But she is looking for love. But not finding it. Mainly because
she is nutty and men have no idea what she will do. She goes on a first date
to see the Korean film, One Fine Spring Day and laughs through it. If you
have seen that film, you know there are no laughs within. It is a cryfest.
She runs into an old schoolmate, Lee Dong-ha (Kim Nam-jin) who has had a
crush on her all these many years. He is subway conductor and tells her he
moved to Seoul to see her. She is not interested.
Instead, she has come across art books in
the library that have romantic poetic written passages by someone. She thinks
they are meant for her and creates in her mind an imaginary lover. The passages
tell which book will be next and she breathlessly waits for them and hopes
to meet this man. Dong-ha keeps pursuing her much to her annoyance. He is
a bit of a clown and slurps down his ramen like a vacuum cleaner. In a way
the film feels like a long doodle - but everyone in it acts very well, the
photography is clean and interesting and the location shooting in the supermarket
and various eateries is well-done. Still, basically for Bae Doo-na fans.
This is a one-time effort from director Yi Yong.
