Ssa-i-bo-geu-ji-man-gwen-chan-a / I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK (2006) – 3/5

Oozes creativity and, as a consequence, deals highly playfully with a very alarming subject

„Ssa-i-bo-geu-ji-man-gwen-chan-a“ or „I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK“ or just „I’m a Cyborg“ is a South Korean film in the Korean language from 2006, so this one had its 15th anniversary already last year. The director and at the same time one of the two writers is Park Chan-wook, clearly among the country’s most successful filmmakers for a long time and he turns 60 next year. With Korea’s success in recent years, especially in terms of international awards recognition, it means quite something that he is among the country’s most renowned. His collaborator on the script here was Seo-kyeong Jeong and he worked with her a lot over the years. On many movies, so definitely a team these two. Their film here runs for over 105 minutes, so a bit closer to the two-hour mark than to the 1.5-hour mark. On the photo here on imdb, you can see the two protagonists from the cast. These would be Lim Soo-jung and Rain. The latter is maybe more known for his contributions to music than really as an actor, but the former (the woman on the right) is the only lead in this movie. The story is all about her character for the most part. It is a bit baffling to read she really weighed under 40 kilograms at one point to shoot this film? This cannot be healthy, I mean this is even beyond Christian Bale weight loss (or gain) proportions. Beautiful actress though, she does look very adorable in this film from beginning to end. I cannot elaborate too much on the other cast members unfortunately because I am not super familiar with them or with Korean cinema in general, but I guess that if you have seen more movies from Asia, you will perhaps recognize a few familiar faces. The vast majority of this film takes place in a hospital for people with mental disabilities. I will get into detail about that later on in terms of the protagonist, but there are also references to other characters, even if they are just supporting players. Table tennis plays a crucial role in all of that at some point. Stealing abilities, talking to machines and so on. We also see some minor characters living there, but do not find out for what reason they are inmates.

As for the main character, she is off the opinion she is a cyborg. Yep. A premise that definitely could have gone wrong and turned into a ridiculous mess if handled with the wrong approach, but the one Park Chan-wook gives it feels right for the most part. If you take a really neutral look here, you could also perceive this as a very dark film. I mean we have a woman at the center of it all who denies her human existence, who refuses to eat, who has fantasies about killing so many people (the ones trying to help her) and she is just one of many somewhat lost souls inside the place. It is all handled with humor and lightness though to take out most of the dramatic gravity. I mean just look at how they depicted her as an actual cyborg. How she keeps firing like crazy from her fingers and killing all these people working at the hospital. Who are somehow her enemies because they want to make her eat. So this is a graphic and somewhat brutal film at times as well, but it comes with comedy nonetheless. In contrast to that, look at the happy ending and closure as well when she finally accept the delicious food one of the doctors gives to her. No more violence fantasies. The earlier force-feeding is of course also among the darker moments. The fact that she accepts the food has a lot to do with the guy she meets there and who decided to help her start eating again and of course romance ensues on the way and the most human feeling of love makes it easy for her to also accept the human (or actually the one for all beings) characteristic to consume food. We see them kiss towards the end, we also see that there is more than that already maybe when we see the two lying there in pretty much the final shot. It was shot from up in the air, far away, so we cannot be sure exactly what happened, but physical closeness is undeniable.

I must go back to the cyborg aspect though. I mean there were a few depictions I really enjoyed, not only the basically action movie shooting sequences, but also when we see an x-ray of her (alleged) physicality at one point. Through her back. Or how her toenails (it was her, wasn’t it?) include small lights like some kind of progress bar. That was relatively early I think. Very creative movie for sure and it jumps a bit back and forth between heavy material and light material and, as I stated earlier, sometimes also goes for depicting heavy scenes as something entertaining. Just look at the massive shooting outside during which she basically mows down everybody and also goes for the little house in which people are hiding from her and we watch it all from above. From safety. We could see her as a despicable ruthless killer, maybe even an antagonist, but the aspect that she is sick makes it very easy for us to still see her as a likable character, no matter what she does to everybody else. It is all in her imagination only anyway. Also pay attention to how she spares the guy she is at that point already crushing on and nonetheless he is super scared too of course. Maybe she sees it as a way to even free himself in that specific shot. Free himself from the hospital workers. Maybe the fact that she sees he is scared is also an indicator that she does not think anymore that being a cyborg is a desirable. But evil. More emotional depth is included with the protagonist’s relationship to her ailing grandma. But comedy comes with that too. Look how she flies to said grandma on one occasion, closes the distance within a blink like a real cyborg would, look at the radish references, even if they feel a bit insulting towards the old woman. There is also talk about the meaning of life and what is the goal of each existence, but it is also handled a bit in a playful way how she is not able to grasp the exact words there. For every more serious inclusion, we get lots of humor too. Take the talking to the machine on the hallway, take the Asian version of Silent Night you hear in here with very individual lyrics. There are so many more examples.

The depiction of the inmates is also nothing offensive, but rather entertaining, also when they are randomly swearing for example. Actually, this entire setting reminded me a bit of an old Lars von Trier film, but maybe I am the only one there, not sure because obviously in this LvT movie the crazy folks are just pretending. Or are they? Enough of that now though. This would lead too far now, so let’s stay with this one here. It is of course debatable if there is a science fiction component to it. I guess you can also list this as a genre with the cyborg references. And especially depictions, but then again it is all just in the girl’s head. Interesting though how she kinda loosens up a little as time goes by and step by step becomes a little more human. Look at how she hates herself a bit for telling people she is a cyborg. Her identity is a secret that must be kept. At least initially. Or just look at another male character, who is also a good example of an in-theory really tragic character. What do they say about him? He was handsome once. Now he is constatly wearing a mask because he disfigured his face intentionally. He was sexually abused when in the military. He sewed together his own butthole? Not sure this is the right way to describe it in terms of vocabulary and grammer, but you know what I mean of course. What a tragic existence really. Seeing the main character early on cutting her wrists open is maybe still somewhat harmless compared to all of that, even if it is a pretty shocking moment too when we see the blood pour out of her arms. Maybe a bit less shocking because she is standing or sitting with her back directed at us. Not her front. I must say it took me a little while to get into this film at the beginning and start digging it, but when the action moves on to the insane asylum eventually I found more of a connection to the story. No pun intended. We are all a little crazy, aren’t we!?

Okay, this is it then. What we have here is certainly one of the more (if not most) unusual love stories you will come across at the movies, but overall it is an enjoyable watch and also oozing creativity. Some flashback scenes that took place quite a while before the now are also very entertaining. Nicely done. I liked how literally anything could happen any minute in terms of absurdities, but at the same time we have a bit of structure in terms of the cyborg guidebook leading us through rules that are complete no-gos from a cyborg’s perspective. It is just Park Chan-wook at his most playful and sometimes quite a joy for us in the audience to watch him letting it all out. Big props to the two screenplay writers and also especially to the lead actress who carries this film very nicely. After the somewhat bumpy beginning I mentioned already, there was never really any doubt I would give this film a thumbs-up and positive recommendation, even if at the same time I must say I never really thought I could say this was a truly mesmerizing watch and lift it in the year’s finest by giving 4 out of 5 stars. 3 out of 5 seems pretty accurate. I guess it is also a more intriguing watch for people who once suffered from an eating disorder. Maybe those especially should see it. Surely worth seeing for everybody else too though, especially if you are into Asian/Korean movies and I was as surprised as I was in approval of the fact that really many people were in the theater with me. It is definitely still getting lots of attention, even a long time after its original release. Be one of those who have seen it (at least) once, even if it is „only“ inside your living room. It is totally enough to watch it there, probably extremely difficult anyway to find a movie theater that still shows it these days.