Saving My Hubby
Director: Hyeon Nam-seob
Year: 2002
Rating: 7.0
Country: Korea
This is the end
I think of my Korean comedy run. These were all from prior to 2010 when I
could still afford to buy Korean dvds. I had never gotten around to seeing
them for some reason. But with all the things going on some light silly absurd
films were just what I needed and they filled the breach. None of them were
great but they had their moments. This last one is a genial romp through
nighttime Seoul that reminded me a bit of Adventures in Babysitting which
is a film I loved when I saw it years ago. This doesn't quite get there though.
The set up takes too long and then it stops short of just pushing the possibilities
of the comic opportunities. You think ah, here it comes and then it runs
off in another direction - literally at times. This needed to ratchet up
the chaos to like Buster Keaton Steamboat Bill levels but instead it keeps
it down to earth and within the realms of realism.
Geum-soon and her husband Joo-tae are dealing
with their baby and having a hard time of doing that and keeping the apartment
orderly and with Joo-tae going off for his first day of work. Geum-soon was
a former top volleyball player who hurt her shoulder and had to retire. I
mention that because her overhead smash comes in handy later on. On the first
day of course the husband has to go out drinking - and drinking - and drinking
- and during this his parents call to tell them they will be arriving in
the morning. Then the film finally kicks in - passed out on the street he
is taken into another bar, woken up and told he owes them a huge amount of
money for his drinks.
He has no money and so the crooks call
Geum-soon and tell her she better get over there with money or her husband
will have his legs broken. Be careful when you go out drinking in Korea!
So she sets off with her baby girl strapped to her back to the red light/bar
district of the city. And everything goes wrong with a gang chasing her through
the streets all night for an accident, she loses the baby, saves a woman
from being molested, gets pushed off the roof of a building, begins a gang
war, diaper changes and saves her hubby. A good night's work but there should
have been more. It just never reaches for the sublime and isn't either as
funny or frantic as you want it to be. This is a film that should have had
you cheering her as she gets in and out of scrapes. And the antics of the
drunk husband get to be too much. Why does it seem have Korean film has to
have a drunk scene?
But it has Bae Doo-na as the heroine and
that was an extra point or two from me. Bae Doo-na is the cat's meow as far
as I am concerned - easily my favorite actress in Korean films. She has high
cheek bones that quickly narrow down to a sharp chin creating this impish
pixie face with slightly protruding teeth - it is far from the classical
sleek chiseled face that most Korean actresses have these days - but it is
a face that constantly delights. She is so expressive as her face is an emotional
roller coaster and every one of them feels real. Her acting skills have clearly
been recognized outside of Korea and she is probably the best known Korean
actress in the West. She has been in two Bong Joon-ho films - The Host (the
archer) and Barking Dogs Never Bite, also Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and
then in the West she was in Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending and the TV series
Sense8. There is now a Korean TV series on Netflix that she is in - the terrific
Kingdom about zombies in a period setting. But my favorite film of hers and
one I would recommend to everyone is the Japanese film Linda, Linda, Linda
where she plays a transfer student in Japan and helps start up a band. Wonderful
film. So yes, Bae Doo-na is very cool.
