An endless double row of similar to each other Korean girls, dressed in the same robes and tied scarlet headscarves, step by step collected some chips. Rhythmically and synchronously, they performed the same movements mechanically. They had headphones on their ears, and their eyes only noticed the parts needed to assemble. More like robots than living creatures. But by the ironic will of the director, among these dolls is exactly the one that does not look like anyone. She listens attentively to the voice of the radio receiver, which for her personally broadcasts wonderful instructions for recharging the organic mechanism of the body with electricity. Following them leads a strange En-Gun in a psychiatric hospital and almost sends to the next world.
“I’m a Cyborg” is completely atypical for the work of a Korean director who became famous for his cruel films, saturated with elements of the most perversely bizarre sadism and machism. True, the bloody attraction is used here more than once or twice, but is presented in an ironic, even almost kind manner. In fact, it is not at all scary, but rather amusing to watch how bullets fly out of the fingers of a thin fragile girl like a muzzle, shot shells pour out of the mouth. And the panic throwing of people in white coats with scarlet fountains of blood beating from numerous wounds to gentle melodic music cannot be taken seriously. As time goes by, the story turns more and more into a fantastic hallucinogenic extravaganza, bizarrely combining the ideas of robotics with the biblical postulates of the seven deadly sins, crazy almost Carrollian irony and touching-gentle romance. With its spirit, the extraordinary brightness of the characters, their ability to perceive the world differently than everything else and the ability to share the warmth of their soul with others, “I am a cyborg” vividly resembles both the French “Amelie” and the Indian “Barfi”. The idea that for the sake of a loved one it is worth doing a miracle with your own hands echoes the Grinovsky-Ptushkov “Scarlet Sails”.
The most interesting is the author’s comparison of the world and the way of life of normal people and madmen. Cold to a degree of icy cruelty, the egoistic indifference of the so-called healthy looks so repulsive that communication with the technology that emits light and ejects various sounds seems not only safer, but pleasant. Devices are literally more human than self-mechanized humans. It turns out that being crazy, or rather just not like everyone else, is incredibly exciting. A normal person is rationally explained, but simply gray and boring. It is full of limitations, and many things and phenomena have no right to exist only because they do not fit into the generally accepted system of coordinates and rules created or established by the same people.
The director’s psychiatric patients live in their own world. They do not recognize the many boundaries and barriers that sane people put up for themselves at every turn. Perhaps that is why their world looks so brightly colorful and fabulously enchanting. The colorful socks in it can give the joy of flying. The light bulbs are talking. The clock hiccups. In it, you can shrink to the size of a point, and the dead are able to descend from the sky on elastic belts. The radio answers questions, and ladybugs are rescued from prison. Love acquires a truly cosmic power and gives the handsome cyborg the ability to turn the food absorbed into electricity. Joint madness becomes a paradise for two, in which the rubber ceiling of the tent is transformed into an arch of a rainbow bridge. Madness turns from pathology into a happy feature. And the greatest misfortune of life is to be an ordinary person, avoiding as a fire any strangeness and completely denying the very possibility of the existence of any miracles in the world.
I’ve watched Cyborg, one of my favorite movies, and it’s also a wild admiration. The only completely non-commercial film of the talented Park, and in my opinion the best in his work. Of course, Park could turn a banal thriller with a stupid plot almost into an art house ("Sympathy for Madame Revenge) or under the sauce of a fantastic horror to present the audience with an intellectual drama (" Thirst), but once having a rare opportunity not to think about commercial responsibility, he managed to create a truly outstanding work. Finally, Park could forget about the criminal plot, inventive methods of revenge and murder and liters of blood - the main commercial components of Asian cinema, as well as abandon the superhero. Yes, there are imaginary murders in the film, but they are first deeply secondary to the overall content of the picture, and, secondly, look more like a mockery of the corresponding genre.
Although there are many formally comic scenes in the film, they (well, at least I have) cause a sad smile. The director says to us, ‘Look, it all looks kind of funny, but look at it and think, is there really so much joy in everything you see on the screen?’ No, of course, Park is not at all devoid of humor and does not disdain it; only his talent is that the conventionally comedic framework of his work is overgrown with directly dramatic drawings, for the empathetic viewer turning it into a frank drama.
A lot has been said about the film’s beautiful artistic decision. I can only confirm that from the first frames, the film captures the verified filling of the frame, always in accordance with its color solution, thoughtful camera movement, the original layout of the scenes, the complete absence of any film stamps, impeccable camera work and, of course, delightful editing.
But if the outstanding artistic quality of this work is few doubts, then its ideological load for some reason is perceived as usually superficial. Cyborg is generally defined as a film about love and/or people with altered perceptions and consciousness. I dare suggest, however, that these obvious lines in Park’s work are only a general background for conveying more serious ideological messages. First, this is not so deeply veiled statement that in the technocratic era, people who break out of the rhythm of the general conveyor (not specifically the factory of radio parts), people with the most mobile psyche, are out of society and, by and large, are subject to disposal.
Park further makes it clear that the current social scheme denies broken people one of their most inalienable rights: the right to love. Yes, no one actually forbids to love, but can lovers sitting in different cells and meeting on a walk under the supervision of guards be really happy? Actually in the film, there is only one lover - the main character, but I believe this does not violate the stated concept.
Reflecting the most original idea of the film, I see the thesis that only a person in a state of resemblance to an individual in an altered state of consciousness can bring relief and in some sense healing. No matter how experienced the doctor who treats (trying to treat) mental illnesses, he will never understand what is happening in the mind and soul of a potential patient - if he does not approach such a state. After all, we are not talking about removing an inflamed appendix or treating sore throats, for which, of course, the doctor does not need to suffer from appendicitis or the flu himself. What can a psychotherapist offer to a person with an altered psyche? Pills? A wet towel? Shock therapy? All this can only stop the external symptoms of this condition, but cannot get to the source of the problems, because he is in a completely closed area for him.
One reviewer said that “the room laughed almost the entire movie.” Have audiences lost the elementary ability to distinguish an empty mixer from an extraordinary drama? Or, inspired by the name, the audience gathered for the session, whose imagination is filled with Schwarzenegger cyborgs?
Never before watching this film two years ago, I did not encounter the director, so I will not rant about this, I will only say that the association with Amelie comes in the first half of the film. So persistent, with the aroma of baguette and the taste of spicy Korean cuisine, diluting this creepy cocktail and not allowing you to make the whole picture bland.
I love her for the main character, who is very cute, frankly, for me looks with her little problems like underwear in a box or eating radish. I can’t call it crazy, because after seeing the pictures on the subject, this hospital seems like a paradise with not particularly violent patients.
My special love is caused by a vast lady who likes to run a finger in the face, and a woman who makes up stories on the go is gorgeous moments.
To say that it is scary or the realities of these institutions are shown without embellishment is to lie, and godless, but it is so pleasant to see sometimes something good and, perhaps, even romantic.
Especially for winter evening cold.
I'm looking for people like me.
Crazy and funny
Crazy and sick...
The idea of a damaged mind in a person has always seemed attractive to me. Sweet insanity, when you are locked with yourself in an imaginary world or an inflamed mind, where several personalities are constantly changing each other - is it not better than an "adequate" perception of the world, consisting mostly of dogmas and contrived problems?
The heroes of this film loved me, of course, it is madness, and very harmless.
The main character has long felt like a cyborg. This idea is so ingrained in her that in the end she refuses to see herself as a man: from now on, Yoon Gong will exterminate people in white coats and make friends among the technicians. However, the strange thing is that a girl can’t get her energy from the batteries she’s trying to replace food with! The human body with the perception of a robot will not last long, but the same cheerful and crazy type from the next room tries to help the girl. .
Paka Chan Wook’s work is simply amazing: he not only perfectly copes with the mechanical component of the film (for example, green, which in turn gives a sense of freedom), but also creates an original script with warm, sincere characters. The director bypasses the established cliches and clichés in films about the mentally ill; instead, there are deviations from the plot into the depths of the main character’s consciousness, funny scenes with other inhabitants of the house of madmen and even a revenge scene – elegant, unhurried shooting at people in white coats.
In general, he takes what seems to be completely incompatible and arranges it in such a way that each element forms this perfect, harmonious symphony. And I wonder, could a movie about the mentally ill look any different? . .
And when I find them,
We'll get out of here.
We'll be out of here tonight.
We'll leave the zoo. .
“Madness most often overtakes those who are more human than others.” – Paul de Kruech
This film is similar to the movie Bicentennial Man (1999), a show of kindness. The director showed, unlike his other films, a bright human relationship. In such a mental hospital and thoughts should be bright, as gathered one youth, who still "stick in childhood", from here and all sorts of fantastic pictures. A certain “circle of interests” was picked up. Happy is he who is free! They're all free. Carelessness, youth, communication with such as themselves, the friendliness of the medical staff - all this gives advantages for living in such institutions. If only it were real. It's so cute. Hospital rooms do not look so dramatic if the transfer of scenes is interspersed with a foray into nature. Easy to watch. When Lee Sung decided to open the door on Yoon Gong’s back with a knife, I thought that the director would spoil the perception of the film (love is a crazy person, he could open this door with a knife), but he did not decide to ruin a good film.
The faster you “enter” this world, the easier it will be to perceive the whole film. The film is a fairy tale for adults! Better to watch than be there, which I wish for everyone.
Before watching this film, I perceived Pak Chan Wook as a director of tough, dynamic films in which the director ruthlessly pulled all human vices to the surface. And then suddenly a romantic comedy... Not so much a comedy though... I've been overly romantic. The film takes place in a psychiatric hospital.
The first half of the movie confused me. There was a feeling that I myself was a patient of a mental hospital - so confused looked what was happening on the screen. No, of course, it is clear that the world of mentally ill people is chaotic, but still the first minutes of 40 screen time was difficult to understand who, where and why.
But then everything went smoothly. It touched me deeply. The main character in the wonderful performance of the stunning Im Soo Jong imagines herself a cyborg not because of mental problems, but because of a personal tragedy that undermined her spiritual strength. When her grandmother is taken to a nursing home, she does not have time to give her a false jaw, without which she will not be able to eat her favorite radish. This case causes such a strong emotional shock that the heroine is given a disappointing diagnosis.
Sad. It was especially sad when I drew a parallel between the heroine’s story and my own. I remember my grandmother.
By the end of the film, the mood had improved markedly thanks to an unusual love line. Lovely-dear was to look at the hero performed by Rhine, who went to any tricks, just to pull the beloved girl from the clutches of the villain-depression.
Anyway, it's a good movie. If at first you are confused by a kaleidoscope of ridiculous situations and strange characters, do not stop watching. Then everything will fall into place.
A romantic comedy from Chang-Wook Park, I never expected this. A man who with manic obsession made films about hate and what it leads to took up the story.
The story revolves around a girl who considers herself a cyborg, immediately comes to mind the phrase from the film: “I’m not crazy, I’m a cyborg.” Isn't it fun, but it seems hereditary because her grandmother thought she was a mouse? For the first time she told her mother about her secret, I quote:
- Mom, I think I'm a cyborg.
- What is this?
- It's like a robot.
She did not take her mother’s words seriously. As a result, the main character, completely immersed in the state of a cyborg, tried to recharge herself with a bare wire, it is not difficult to guess what this led to. Once in a mental hospital, she got into perhaps the most incredible team, even for the “psycho”. Here you will not find Napoleon or even Stalin, because this is the East and the East is a delicate matter. In fact, from this moment and begins the “love story”, wrote in quotation marks because it is difficult to call such. Even the very acquaintance of Yang Gong with Il Sung (Yang Gong is a girl and the main character, Il Sung is a guy with kleptomania and obsession with his mother, the main character) is extremely unusual. Yang Gong, driven by her illness, asks Il Sung for a favor: “Please steal my compassion, just like my Thursday,” for those who don’t know “Thursday,” it’s her panties that she wears on that very day, and compassion prevents people from being killed in white coats, because she’s a cyborg designed to kill. From this point on, the absurdity begins, but the absurdity is cute and funny. Just watching this "team of mentally ill people" you might be surprised how the world they created is similar to ours, but it is much more acute and truly unusual. There is envy, herd feeling, love, jealousy and all that is inherent in us.
In conclusion, I want to note the wonderful work of the writers, the whole film can be literally disassembled into quotes. Literally every conversation of the mentally ill makes you believe in what is happening or at least smile.
One. Take a spoon. Two. Pick up the rice. Three. Put it to your mouth.
What's wrong? I told you I needed energy. - What if I eat and the ricomegatron breaks? - I'll fix it. I know a lot about technology. - What if it doesn't break now? - You call me, I'm fixing at home. A lifetime guarantee.
I haven’t experienced such emotions in a long time. During the viewing on the face there was a smile, and fear, and amazement, and tears, and horror. So much emotion when looking at the heroes. Empathy with them, their stories, because everyone has gone through a lot. And the one who considers himself a Cyborg, and the one who steals the feelings of others.
This film should be watched very carefully, without being distracted by anything or anyone. The musical design, as in any Korean film, is amazing and only supports the overall atmosphere of the film. The scene in the hospital takes so much for the soul that I want to cry and laugh.
Thief, kleptomaniac, madman, loved and wiser than all men in white coats put together.
Bravo to the director. Bravo actors. Bravo to the beloved and adored Rayna! Another confirmation that he is a great not only pop artist, but also an actor.
10 out of 10