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"Don't Tell Papa" + DVD Giveaway

"Don't Tell Papa" + DVD Giveaway

Cho-won (played by a ten-year oldYoo Seung-ho) was conceived under auspicious circumstances. Immature high school student Cheol-soo (played byJung Woong-in, who being in his thirties doesn't look like a high school student at all) and tough-as-nails bombshell Ae-rang (played byChae Min-seo) hooked up. Thanks to questionable decision-making on both their parts, Cho-won is, in the present day, being raised in the nightclub where Cheol-soo works as an emcee.

What surprised me the most about"Don't Tell Papa"is how it's not really as lewd as it sounds or looks. Sure, Cheol-soo fantasizes about women all the time, and even used Cho-won to come on to them. Yes, the women in the nightclub are scantily clad, use foul language, and some of them aren't even women. Finally, Cho-won's sense of normalcy is so warped he doesn't even question a naked bath scene with a woman he barely knows. Incidentally that scene must causeYoo Seung-hoa fair amount of embarrassment as a modern hearththrob. I doubt he even remembers doing it.

But all of these often bizarre and comical visual moments always run together to make the same generally sweet point. That family matters, and unconventional parents are nothing to be ashamed of. We can see that for all his eccentricities Cheol-soo is a genuinely loving father. It's a shame that Ae-rang handed Cho-won off to him in such an...unconventional way. All the same Cheol-soo always puts Cho-won first.

Consider how the main conflict of"Don't Tell Papa"is about whether or not Ae-rang should be a part of Cho-won's life going forward, following her inevitable reappearance. The focus is always on what this will mean for Cho-won. Racy as the subject matter is, it's rare to find a family movie which correctly decides that the desires of adults are subordinate when a child is involved. Furthermore, Cho-won really is just a normal kid, so it's easy to empathize with him.

"Don't Tell Papa"is admittedly somewhat questionable in the romance department because of this. Since Cheol-soo and Ae-rang's scenes are completely dominated by the overhanging question of what's best for Cho-won, we rarely even get to see them talk to each other about each other except in flashback. Of course, that initial bar fight scene is funny- legitimately one of the better meet cutes I've ever seen. Even more impressively,"Don't Tell Papa"manages to use that creepy Fairy and the Woodcutter fairy tale in a way that doesn't seem completely perverted.

It helps that"Don't Tell Papa"has a very strong sense of agency and consequences. Observe how in the big climactic scene, at right the moment when a villainous character realizes that he's gone too far, Cheol-soo very stupidly escalates the situation. Cheol-soo may be a loving father, but he is nonetheless a very flawed man, and is all the more sympathetc for that. In the end, it's the desire not to fight which make the unconventional family in"Don't Tell Papa"work so well.

Review by William Schwartz

"Don't Tell Papa"is directed byLee Sang-hoonand featuresJung Woong-in,Yoo Seung-ho,Chae Min-seoandKim Yang-woo.

Don't Tell Papa DVD

Source from :Hancinema