New for me
Writer-director Jang Jin's films have always been marked by taking big chances, frequently taking genre expectations and turning them sideways, infusing every film with a goofy sense of humor, directing everything in a dynamic stylistic manner, and very frequently taking on multi-character, layered and complex stories. This sometimes blows up in his face as he's unable to wrap up the many story threads he starts or drives the story into overly complex and even contrived degrees. And other times, it works well, resulting in a film of surprises and strong moments. Romantic Heaven sees Jang approach the melodrama genre, weaving together a handful of interconnected tales, into an ambitious story of mortality, which, characteristically doesn't manage to resolve all of its stories satisfactorily, but still manages to pack in some good moments alongside his vibrant direction.
There are three main threads in Romantic Heaven: The first is about Choi Mimi (Kim Jiwon) and her quest to find the bone marrow match for her ailing mother, who turns out to be a man on the run from the law, believed to have murdered his girlfriend. Then we watch as Song Mingyu (Kim Suro) scatters the ashes of his recently deceased wife with his law colleague and her friend (who has likely long been pining over him). Meanwhile, a man he wrongfully put behind bars as a prosecutor, Jang Heosoo (Kim Joonbae), comes seeking him, perhaps with vengeance on his mind. Finally, crushing on Mimi is Jiwook (Kim Dongwook), a cab driver who takes care of his Alzheimer's stricken grandfather and discovers that he long held a love for a girl he left behind after the Korean War. Some of these characters, dead and living will end up in heaven there they might help resolve some of their problems on earth.
What works well about this story is that Jang takes the framework of the terminal illness romance melodrama and successfully spins it off into a very different take on love and mortality, changing the romance in the first story to a bond between mother and daughter in one leading the daughter to participate in stakeouts and investigation. On the other hand, despite twisting around some details and throwing some fantasy elements into the film, the other two stories play out rather straight with the long-lost love story only being complicated by a trip to heaven. The death of the lawyer's wife is hardly a story at all and its most potent moment is also a moment of pure manipulation that's unconnected to the story.
Basically, the big problem with this film (and endemic to many of Jang's films) is that there's simply just too much going on and very little of it mattering in the end, with none of the stories except for the long-lost love story registering anything resembling an arc, however, there's no character development at all as the protagonist is merely a third party in the story. And the flat stories that, in two of the three cases, resolve just like their insipid melodrama counterparts, don't have the temporal room to become a more interesting story. Plus the heaven angle is either a sledgehammer point of Jang philosophizing or too contrived a plot construct to string it all together.
I must admit, that it seems like I hated the movie after all that, but Romantic Heaven still has a lot going for it. Jang has a unique and dynamic directorial style that gives even his weakest films a strong visual presence and energy and Romantic Heaven has that, as well as an interesting vision of heaven, courtesy of the art/production departments. And the film also contains lots of strong situation and character-based comedic moments, which were still enjoyable. Plus, the performances by the large cast were mostly quite fun, especially in the comedy department, but even the melodrama is sold well, even if manipulative.
And for all the lack of character development or meaningful story and having too much going on, at least everything makes sense. Romantic Heaven has that plus strong direction and good comedy going for it. Jang has an enormous amount of talent and Romantic Heaven shows that clearly, but his continued insistence on trying to do too much and in too complicated a manner keeps Romantic Heaven from having a good story to go with its smarts, looks and sense of humor. 6/10.
Links:
- Additional Reviews: Koreanfilm.org, Modern Korean Cinema
- Available at YesAsia
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