Picture this: a man comes into a board meeting, pitching his idea for a movie. "Hey," he says, "I have a good one for you. How about we do a high school film, but not anything like what has come out before. How about we mix Porky's with The Story of O, and The Faculty?" "Genius!!!" They cry, instantly giving the man a promotion, a key to the executive washroom and employee of the month parking privileges. Unfortunately, the ivory tower that serves as the creative launching pad for today's films is bankrupt of ideas and any sort of originality. Dasepo Naughty Girls is a film that can only be made in Korea, a hodge podge mixture of teen melodrama, erotic comedy, a couple of musical numbers, and weird sci fi. Quentin Tarantino couldn't possibly come up with something this insane, though the gimp scene in Pulp Fiction comes remotely close. Imagine if you will a school filled with dysfunctional high school students -- and teachers! The opening scene, a teacher announcing that one of his fellow teachers has been tested positive for a STD, causes a near panic among the students, as they all apparently have been sleeping with one another, a domino effect that clears out the class as they all go to the doctor's to get checked. Yikes! We follow a cast of students -- a girl who likes with her invalid mom, near broke and having to sell herself to make money; her classmate, a sexually aware hottie who is foul mouthed and has undiscovered talent for acting; a male classmate who happens to be a cyclops; his sister, who happens to be a boy or a hermaphrodite (we never really know for sure); a gangster who loves to dress in drag; a teacher who gets off by being punished in front of his students (with many of the students all too willing to apply punishment); a headmaster who is not what he seems to be (human that is); and a pair of Hardy Boy like students who set out to discover why some of the more notorious classmates are suddenly studying all the time. This almost two hour film tests the limits of one's patience by throwing you so many curve balls with its outrageousness. Suffice it to say that while the teen actors and actresses really give it their all, and the high production values, this film is a train wreck. Sure, there is a big finale, as the students band together to defeat the evil headmaster in a crazier version than the famous Buffy the Vampire Slayer season finale -- yin yang anyone? But the bonding is superficial and let's face it, this has been done much better. Sex is Zero, for instance, which was more outrageous, but it had a plot. Apparently this fim was targeted for an adult audience in Korea; however, and this may be a cultural thing, I fail to see how a movie like this would succeed in its target audience. The satirical punches misses its marks.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
New realms of weird comedy - Dasepo Naughty Girls
Picture this: a man comes into a board meeting, pitching his idea for a movie. "Hey," he says, "I have a good one for you. How about we do a high school film, but not anything like what has come out before. How about we mix Porky's with The Story of O, and The Faculty?" "Genius!!!" They cry, instantly giving the man a promotion, a key to the executive washroom and employee of the month parking privileges. Unfortunately, the ivory tower that serves as the creative launching pad for today's films is bankrupt of ideas and any sort of originality. Dasepo Naughty Girls is a film that can only be made in Korea, a hodge podge mixture of teen melodrama, erotic comedy, a couple of musical numbers, and weird sci fi. Quentin Tarantino couldn't possibly come up with something this insane, though the gimp scene in Pulp Fiction comes remotely close. Imagine if you will a school filled with dysfunctional high school students -- and teachers! The opening scene, a teacher announcing that one of his fellow teachers has been tested positive for a STD, causes a near panic among the students, as they all apparently have been sleeping with one another, a domino effect that clears out the class as they all go to the doctor's to get checked. Yikes! We follow a cast of students -- a girl who likes with her invalid mom, near broke and having to sell herself to make money; her classmate, a sexually aware hottie who is foul mouthed and has undiscovered talent for acting; a male classmate who happens to be a cyclops; his sister, who happens to be a boy or a hermaphrodite (we never really know for sure); a gangster who loves to dress in drag; a teacher who gets off by being punished in front of his students (with many of the students all too willing to apply punishment); a headmaster who is not what he seems to be (human that is); and a pair of Hardy Boy like students who set out to discover why some of the more notorious classmates are suddenly studying all the time. This almost two hour film tests the limits of one's patience by throwing you so many curve balls with its outrageousness. Suffice it to say that while the teen actors and actresses really give it their all, and the high production values, this film is a train wreck. Sure, there is a big finale, as the students band together to defeat the evil headmaster in a crazier version than the famous Buffy the Vampire Slayer season finale -- yin yang anyone? But the bonding is superficial and let's face it, this has been done much better. Sex is Zero, for instance, which was more outrageous, but it had a plot. Apparently this fim was targeted for an adult audience in Korea; however, and this may be a cultural thing, I fail to see how a movie like this would succeed in its target audience. The satirical punches misses its marks.
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