[K-FILM REVIEWS] 댄서의 순정 (Innocent Steps)

enterOne - 07/26/2005

댄서의 순정 (Innocent Steps)
Director: 박영훈 (Park Young-Hoon)
Starring: 문근영 (Moon Geun-Young), 박건형 (Park Geon-Hyung), 박원상 (Park Won-Sang), 윤찬 (Yoon Chan, 김기수 (Kim Gi-Soo), 정유미 (Jung Yoo-Mi), 이대연 (Lee Dae-Yeon), 김지영 (Kim Ji-Young)

THE FILM: 5
Fact: Moon Geun-Young is a box office machine, collecting more hits in three years than people twice her age do all over their career. Fact: Park Geon-Hyung is one of the country's most popular musical actors, in an era where musicals have hit the Million viewers and are even helping movie stars become, well... stars? Just look at Jo Seung-Woo's popularity before and after his musicals 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hide' and 'Hedwig'. Possibility: this is nothing more than a 작업영화, a star vehicle made to bank on the popularity of its two young stars, without pretending to be more than the sum of its parts. And if you look at the film that way, with lower expectations, you might even enjoy it. But let's face, this film is of, for and about Moon Geun-Young, the most famous 18 year old in the country, as adorable and natural as smart and mature compared to many starlets who take fame for granted. Yes, mature, because Miss Moon only works on a film per year, not to interfere with her studies, and while her roles don't seem to change too much (always romantic comedies or melodramas with touches of comedy), she's slowly evolving under our eyes. If you look at her role here and in her latest work 어린신부 (My Little Bride), there's a certain air of newfound maturity, both sexual and psychological, in Moon's character. Sure, she can still do films like this one for the next 3-4 years and nobody will complain, but I'd expect something even more mature in her next project. She's not jumping the ball and becoming the next Lee Hyo-Ri, she's just showing through her films that... Hey, 'I'm growing up too.' I can't say it stressed or even challenged Moon's considerable acting talent, but if you're part of the target demographic (45 Million Koreans), you won't complain too much. Unless you're looking for a strong script, subtlety and great character development in a film like this, which would be the equivalent of going to a Kimchi Festival to look for Nouvelle Cuisine.

VIDEO: 6.5
Quite disappointing for an enterOne DVD. Too many scratches and marks for such a new film. Detail is pretty decent, though. Not really bad, but not good either.
AUDIO: 7
Despite the presence of a dts track, there's nothing that would make you scream 'this is a great track.' Most of the soundtrack and dialogue use the front speakers, and for a film about dance, it's not too lively when it comes to surround activity.
SUBTITLES: 6.5
Since subtitles are more or less (at least that's what appeared to me after giving them a quick spin for about 25 Minutes) in line with the Director's Cut DVD (which I reviewed before writing this), I'll just quote: "I would have given 7 or even more to these subs... but. The basic translation is good, when things aren't too difficult, and you'll probably follow the story with no major problem. But any time the dialogue gets a little culturally-specific (Moon Geun-Young's Yeonbyeon dialect, the little Quiz Game they play with Important Korean books) it all goes to hell. Reading the subs, not realizing the difference between Korean spoken in Seoul and in Yeonbyeon is extreme, you'd think Moon was talking like a geek. But even though during the course of the film they do make fun of her accent, it's not because she's speaking some weird gibberish. And as always cultural appropriation is one of my pet peeves. What's the point of making up famous English books when Park Geon-Hyung is asking Moon about questions she will be asked to gain KOREAN Citizenship? Do they ask people if they know Cinderella?"
EXTRA FEATURES: 8.5
With the exception of the audio commentary (which is quite nice), they're exactly the same as the Extended Version, so again I quote: "enterOne's usual excellent job. If this were a more interesting film, they'd probably go up to 9. But there's plenty to watch here: a 22 Minutes interview with Cast and Director (very funny), 8 Minutes of Deleted Scenes, a 32 Minutes Making Of, 20 Minutes of Teaser Trailer Making with Director Yong Yi, an 18 Minutes Poster Shoot Video from Yeonbyeon, and finally a great 'Dance Lesson' from the Dance Directors of the film. Thanks to this DVD, you'll learn the basics of Rumba and Cha Cha Cha, and dance like the stars in the film. Pretty cool supplements."
VALUE FOR MONEY: 7
Should you pick this one, or the Extended Version? Extras are exactly the same, if not for the extra commentary, the film is a little longer in the Extended Cut, but you'll have a hard time noticing the difference. This version is worse in terms of presentation, and the subtitles are the same. I'd go for the other, but they're more or less similar.
AVERAGE: 6.50