"Mongolian Princess"

Danwoo(played byDanwooJung) is a man in his mid-thirties who's been bumming most of his life around the international acting circuit- a career path which is far less interesting than it sounds. He's never even had a serious girlfriend. That changes whenDanwoomeets Elisabeth (played byElisabeth Garcia), a French writer. Another character description that's far less interesting than it sounds. That's really the best possible description for "Mongolian Princess"- it's a love story about people who just aren't that interesting.

This is probably the part where you're expecting me to trash the movie for being terrible. Au contraire- what elevates "Mongolian Princess" is precisely the fact that writer/directorDanwooJungwas willing to paint an unflatterring portrait of himself for the sake of getting at greater truth. Because let's be honest here. This is what real-life romance actually looks like-Danwoois hardly the only person to have ever gone through a forced romance.

Most of the screentime here is dedicated toDanwooand Elisabeth striking up awkward conversations in international English. Text messages are a major accomplice in these proceedings. While their jokes are bad in-person, they're just plain awful in text format. Like, eye-rollingly cringeworthy. But forDanwooand Elisabeth, it's not the quality of the jokes that matter.Danwoolikes communicating with someone who doesn't make him feel like an idiot. Elisabeth likes the attention. This is the entire basis of their relationship.

As you can guess, it's really not that much to go on. And their break-up hardly comes as a surprise either. Most of the story is actually told in flashback, from the perspective ofDanwoo's current-day relationship with Ha-na (played byPark Ha-na). Pay close attention to howDanwooexperiences similar situations with both lovers. Neither Elisabeth nor Ha-na particularly wants to hurtDanwoo's feelings- but it's only the latter woman who recognizes thatDanwoo's long term needs sometimes necessitate her saying things he doesn't want to hear.

"Mongolian Princess" holds a surprising amount of depth regarding the reality of relationships, if only because of how unusual it is to see this kind of story in narrative format. Movies in particular are supposed to be about grand, amazing love affairs for the ages. It's in that context most of us enter into relationships and are inevitably disappointed. From that context there's just something so imminently reassuring about seeing someone actually blatantly admit that most relationships are superficial, and only particularly interesting to the two people who have managed to trick themselves into believing in love.

If you're one of those people who insist on watching movies solely for the sake of indulging in high fantasy, you probably won't like "Mongolian Princess". For everyone else, this is a sweet, moving story about people who try to use romance to escape loneliness- only to realize that an absence of loneliness isn't the same thing as happiness. Even a break-up isn't the end of the world-Danwoodid manage to meet Ha-na after all. Even if this was less because Elisabeth taught him how to love as it was becauseDanwoohad the sense not to attempt that same mistake again.

Review by William Schwartz

"Mongolian Princess" is directed byDanwooJungand featuresDanwooJung,Elisabeth GarciaandPark Ha-na.