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A
Day for an Affair |
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review | notes | availability | |
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Yoon Jin-Suh (left) and Kim Hye-Soo (right) as the
cheating women in A Day For an Affair.
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AKA: |
A
Fine Day for an Affair |
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Year: |
2007 |
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Director: |
Jang
Moon-Il |
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Writer: |
Jang
Moon-Il, Joo Chan-Ok |
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Cast: |
Kim
Hye-Soo, Yoon Jin-Suh, Lee Jon-Hyuk, Lee Min-Ki, Park
Sang-Myeon, Jeong Eun-Pyo, Oh Yoon-Hong |
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The
Skinny: |
An amusing comedic romp about adultery that refreshingly
lacks a moral compass for the majority of its running
time. But in trying to be something it doesn't have
to be, the film ultimately overstays its welcome. |
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Review
by
Kevin Ma: |
Leave
it to a country that outlawed adultery to make a comedy
out of it. That's right, adultery is actually against
the law in South Korea, but you wouldn't be able to
tell from A Day for an Affair. A polished, breezy
comedy, A Day for an Affair stars Kim Hye-Soo
and Yoon Jin-Suh as two women with anonymous identities
who find extramarital affairs through online chats.
The first woman, the playful Ms. Dew (Kim), seduces
a young inexperienced college student (Lee Min-Ki) through
a series of teases that eventually lead them to a countryside
love hotel. The other woman, Little Bird (Yoon), meets
up with a handsome Romeo-type (Lee Jong-Hyuk) who plays
nice online, but ends up expecting much more in person.
Despite her initial shyness, they end up at the same
love hotel as Dew, only for Little Bird to back off
and insist on simply talking.
Director Jang Moon-Il handles
the two different affairs as mostly separate plotlines,
with one about what happens after sex, and the other
about inching slowly towards that consummation. However,
A Day for an Affair doesn't move anywhere for
a while, as the first act is concerned less with plot
exposition than with setting up the affairs and laying
the foundation for the two women's eventual encounter.
Rather than asking the tough question about the morality
(or lack therof) behind adultery, Jang depicts extramarital
relationships as a type of escapism and a bit of adventurous
fun. Dew and Little Bird don't have the best of marriages
- we see scenes of Little Bird's silent marriage to
explain her desire for conversation, and Dew's marriage
only seems slightly better on the outside, with a third
act reveal explaining her true immature reasoning for
an affair - but Jang doesn't feel the need to present
the women's husbands as broad stereotypical creeps to
validate their wives' affairs. Jang seems to be intentionally
avoiding the issue of morality by presenting Little
Bird and Dew as two lonely people who just want to connect
with others in their own ways - a rather straightforward,
albeit simple explanation that's satisfying enough in
the context of the film.
Because of Jang's way
of presenting extramarital affairs as escapism, much
of A Day for an Affair plays like a lightweight
comic romp, showing Dew and Little Bird's affairs running
into amusing obstacles. However, Jang also plays the
physical comedy too broadly at times, particularly during
the playful interactions between Dew and the college
student (Trust me, that's how they're named). Jang tries
to show Dew's immaturity in their actions, but it grows
a bit grating after a while. On the other hand, Kim
Hye-Soo does project an effective air of immaturity
that seems to lie beneath her sex appeal, adding significant
context to her character. Her role is the more challenging
of the two, but Kim plays her seductress role with a
lot of fun that shows onscreen. Fortunately, Jang does
find the right balance eventually, bringing a bit of
visual pizzazz to the broad comedy pieces, showing Jang's
talent as a director. That's also the point when the
film finally gets moving, as one affair begins to reach
its climax (no pun intended) and the other finally starts
to come to fruition.
However, A Day for an Affair
also stays past its welcome, going on well past its
climax to try and form some kind of meaning in one of
the affairs. Just when one thinks that said affair has
long reached a somewhat pessimistic yet logical conclusion,
A Day for an Affair drags on by attempting to
bring the ending back to where it started without resolving
all the issues it has brought up. Indeed, Jang can argue
that unresolved issues are a natural part of life, but
it can also be interpreted as his inability to find
a balance between commercial and arthouse comedy. The
writer-director's attempt to place additional meaning
into the film is particularly jarring because he ignored
genre conventions so blatantly in the first two-thirds
of the film that he didn't need to revert to serious
storytelling in the last ten minutes. It's meaningful
and emotional, sure, but it's also unnecessary.
Then again, we should probably
just be appreciative of what we see onscreen already:
two sexy lead performances, an amusing adult comedy
that doesn't resort to explicit sex, and considerable
directorial talent, to boot. Those who don't mind dubious
morals will like the fact that Jang doesn't judge his
protagonists as anything more than just two lonely women,
and the moral police will like that the film does end
up taking some kind of anti-affair stance in its conclusion.
That just goes to show that even in a film about adultery,
you can still have it both ways. (Kevin Ma 2007) |
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Notes: |
The Internet chats
that set up the two affairs in the film are mostly non-English-subtitled
on the DVD. It doesn't have a huge overall effect, but
it does make the film harder to get into at the beginning.
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Availability: |
DVD (Korea)
Region 3 NTSC
Bitwin
2-disc Limited Edition
16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Korean Language Track
Dolby Digital 5.1
Removable Korean and English subtitles
Making-of, trailers, and various extras |
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