"Dancing Queen": Feel-Good Fun with Plenty to Say.
It's sometimes a complicated effort to find Korean films that are screening with English subtitles in Seoul. Many big cinema houses sporadically screen the latest Korean films and hearing about them is almost impossible without being in the loop as it were. So when I saw thatLee Seok-hoon's"Dancing Queen"was screening at Yongsan in Seoul, I resigned myself to the fact that, although it didn't look like a film I would willing choice to watch, I would see it because it is what was available. This reluctance was compounded by the film's 124-minute screen time but, despite this, I was happily surprised to walk out of the theatre with a smile on my face and a spring in my step.
"Dancing Queen"is currently the top film
out on the Korean cinema circuit at the moment with a total of 632,837 admissions. It's a great start to what is a highly entertaining and hilarious film. I feel the need at this point to voice my personal objection to film's title and overall marketing. The film involves a middle-aged couple that have lost some sense of themselves and the dreams that they both once held. As they each pursue their dream their relationship becomes stretched to the breaking point.Hwang Jeong-minplays Jeong-min, a civil lawyer who's failing private practice is stuck in a rut and capping his ability to grow professionally and provide for his family. His wife, played byUhm Jung-hwa, chose to let go of her dream to become a musical singer when the two of them got married some years back. As the film progresses, Jeong-min gets the opportunity to run for mayor while Jung-hwa secretly joins a girl group on the rise. The film favours neither one in particular but the production company clearly put stock in the fact that calling this"Dancing Queen"would help promote the film. Maybe they were right, as its first week and half has shown good results, but in writing this I hope to encourage those, who like myself are sceptical, to give the film a chance and not be distracted by the film's marketing strategies.
The film tackles a number of relevant socio-cultural issues currently being experienced in Korea. These range and include topics such as domestic identity, patriarchy, personal agency, and even homosexuality is touched on. It handles these, and other, issues in a light and digestible manner without diminishing or undermining their importance and place within the publics consciousness. Sure, some themes are simplified and are managed with less tact than others but their inclusion is definitely noted and contributes towards the film's impact as a whole.
Just by watching this film you can get a pretty good outline of some of the major social issues being raised in modern Korea. Education, the private industry in particular, has become almost unmanageable while the cost of living and housing continues to rise. Korea's low birth rate remains to be one of country's biggest long-term issues as Korea's future economic prowess could be threatened. Homosexuality in the workplace, and in society, is a relatively new social phenomenon and Korea has slowly been given it more attention and recognition. Jung-hwa and Jeong-min's relationship challenges traditional assumptions about the expectations of gender roles with the family. These themes, alone with others, are a plenty in the film and they stood out to me as a bold, almost provocative, text on Korea's progression as a nation in the 21st century.
The film makes for fantastic entertainment. The flecks of humour are pulled-off through some great acting and are altogether well paced. Throughout the film the types of emotions you will experience range and are, most importantly, well situated to each scene and the beats within. Progression is one of films strengths and, despite its length, it is one of longer Korean comedies that I wasn't continually checking the clock."Dancing Queen"was able to create an absorbing narrative that keeps you engaged with new encounters and conflict without boring you in the process. Its likeable characters are handled well by the actors and you won't be able to walk away from the film without some form of inspiration or newfound positive perspective on life.
-C.J. Wheeler ([email protected])