I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK
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''I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK'' () is a 2006 South Korean surrealist
psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...
-
drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
film directed by Park Chan-wook. It stars Jung Ji-hoon (Rain) as Il-soon and Im Soo-jung as Young-gun. It tells the story of a newly admitted mental hospital patient who thinks she is a cyborg and Il-soon who begins to like her. On the first day of its release, it attracted about 92,000 viewers, a total of 737,165 viewers. It received critical acclaim with praise for unique take on the rom-com genre, humor, directing, cinematography, production design, its approach and message about mental illness and the two lead performances and their chemistry on-screen.


Plot

The film takes place mostly in a mental institution filled with an eclectic menagerie of patients. Young-goon, a young woman working in a factory constructing radios and who believes herself to be a cyborg, is institutionalized after cutting her wrist and connecting it with a power cord to a wall outlet in an attempt to "recharge" herself, an act that is interpreted as a suicide attempt. Her delusion is characterized by refusing to eat (she instead licks batteries and attempts to administer electric shocks to herself), conversing almost solely with machines and electrical appliances, and obsessively listening to her
tube Tube or tubes may refer to: * ''Tube'' (2003 film), a 2003 Korean film * "Tubes" (Peter Dale), performer on the Soccer AM television show * Tube (band), a Japanese rock band * Tube & Berger, the alias of dance/electronica producers Arndt Rör ...
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
at night for instruction on how to become a better cyborg. Her apathetic mother is interviewed by the institute's head doctor, to determine the roots of Young-goon's psychosis; despite claiming ignorance of her daughter's delusion (it is later learnt she knew but was too busy to make her seek help), she reveals that Young-goon's mentally ill grandmother had previously been institutionalized for delusions of being a mouse, a trauma that sparks Young-goon's own lapses from reality. As a result, she frequently fantasizes of finding her grandmother and seeking revenge on the "men in white" who took her away. Il-soon, a young male patient hospitalized for anti-social behavior and kleptomania (stemming from
schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...
) becomes fascinated with Young-goon; he is described as having "no sympathy" for his fellow man, believes he can "steal" other people's souls/attributes, and frequently wears handmade rabbit masks. He fears that he will eventually "shrink into a dot" and is seen compulsively brushing his teeth when nervous or upset. His habit of covertly taking the traits of his fellow patients makes him the frequent target of scorn, but he only takes the traits willingly and returns them to their owners after he is done. When Young-goon persuades Il-soon to take away her "sympathy" in order for her to be able to kill the men in white, she has a hallucination of going on a rampage, killing the doctors and orderlies of the hospital. When she is given shock treatment owing to her refusal to eat, she believes that she has been recharged. In reality, her physical condition begins to deteriorate rapidly, and the doctors begin force-feeding her to keep her alive. Il-soon, now wracked with sympathy for Young-goon, hatches an elaborate plan to get her to eat, convincing her that he can install a food-to-electrical-energy conversion unit, calling it a rice-megatron, in her back. After eating her first meal at the hospital, and confiding her secrets to the head doctor, Young-goon ponders the meaning of a recurring dream in which her grandmother explains to her the purpose of her existence. Interpreting the lip-read message as that she is in fact a "nuke bomb" that requires a bolt of lightning to detonate, she goes out into a horrendous storm with Il-soon, intending to use her radio's antenna as a lightning rod. In the middle of the storm, the wind blows their tent away, prompting them to hastily protect their food supplies. Il-soon, hearing Young-goon's complaints about the opened wine collecting rain, plugs it with his little finger. Unknown to Young-goon, it is shown Il-soon placed the missing cork atop the makeshift lightning rod, protecting her from lightning. Sitting together as the sun rises, the duo soon embrace under a rainbow.


Cast

* Im Soo-jung as Cha Young-goon *
Rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...
as Park Il-soon * Choi Hee-jin as Dr. Choi Seul-gi * Lee Yong-nyeo as Young-goon's mother * Yoo Ho-jeong as Il-soon's mother * Lee Ji-hyun as Young-goon's aunt * Kim Do-yeon as Nurse * Kim Byeong-ok as Judge


Development

''I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK'' is the first Korean film to use the Viper FilmStream Camera.


Reception


Critical response

''I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK'' received generally positive reviews. On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
it has an approval rating of 91% based on reviews from 11 critics. Tarun Shanker, writer for Asian Cinema Drifter, gave the film a B+. He characterized the movie as "part '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'', part '' Amelie''" and praised it for "pure cinematic exuberance, quirky humor, ndexceedingly likeable characters". Tarun hypothesized that ''Cyborgs relatively poor box office performance was due to its genre-busting: "The film has a slower pace than the director's previous works and it strikes a strange hybrid tone where it is far too cute to be like his dark revenge flicks, but it's a bit too dark and odd to be a cute romantic date film. Some viewers may simply find that too jarring a blend." In fact, Chris Tilly of IGN condemned it for this exact reason: "Scenes veer violently from comedy to violence to tragedy, amusing and dumfounding in equally measure.... The result is a confusing mess of a movie that lacks the marvellously sharp structure and cohesion of his previous efforts."


Box office

''I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK'' opened in South Korea on December 7, 2006, and was the number one film at the box office in its opening weekend, grossing $2,478,626. However, in its second weekend, it plummeted by 76%, and was pulled from most screens prior to the Christmas holiday period. orean Box Office">[Korean Box Office
/nowiki> I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK To Be Pulled, ''Twitch'', December 22, 2006. Retrieved on March 24, 2008.
Sales of approximately 780,000 tickets were considered a disappointment in contrast to Park's earlier films, '' Joint Security Area'', ''Oldboy (2003 film)">Oldboy'', and ''Sympathy for Lady Vengeance">Oldboy_(2003_film).html" ;"title="Joint Security Area (film)">Joint Security Area'', ''Oldboy (2003 film)">Oldboy'', and ''Sympathy for Lady Vengeance'', which had all sold in excess of 3 million.


Accolades

''I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK'' won the Alfred Bauer Award at the 57th
Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
, and was selected as the opening film for the
Hong Kong International Film Festival The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) is one of Asia's oldest international film festivals. Founded in 1976, the festival features different movies and filmmakers from different countries, and takes place in Hong Kong. HKIFF screens ...
. Also, Rain was nominated for and won Best New Actor at the 43rd Baeksang Awards.The 43rd Baeksang Awards Winners Are…
''Asianpopcorn''. Retrieved on March 24, 2008.
* Alfred Bauer Prize,
Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
(2007) * Opening Film,
Hong Kong International Film Festival The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) is one of Asia's oldest international film festivals. Founded in 1976, the festival features different movies and filmmakers from different countries, and takes place in Hong Kong. HKIFF screens ...
(2007) * Film Presented, New York Asian Film Festival (2007) * Official Selection (Special Screenings), SXSW (2007)


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK 2000s Korean-language films 2000s South Korean films 2006 science fiction films 2006 films 2006 romantic comedy films 2006 independent films South Korean romantic comedy films South Korean science fiction comedy films South Korean independent films Films directed by Park Chan-wook Films set in psychiatric hospitals Films about eating disorders