Ballerina Movie Review: Bonecrunching Action Meets Breathtaking Visuals In Netflixs New Korean Action Film
Recently, at the premiere of his new film Aggro Dr1ft at the Venice Film Festival, director Harmoni Korine said he was no longer interested in the plot. “Vibrations” and “fog” are the most important elements of cinema, he said. Korin, the provocateur behind films like Gummo and Spring Break, is reportedly excited about Netflix's new Korean film, Lee Jong-hyun's Ballerina. It's a 90-minute action film with so little plot and punchy synth beats that it could be classified as an extended Weeknd music video.
There's something to be said for a movie with a 20+ page script. Armed with the clearest plot justifications, Ballerina leaps from scene to scene, combining bone-chilling tension with balletic rhythm. Jung Jung-soo, best known for his roles in Burning and director Lee's latest Netflix film The Call, plays Ok-joo, a young woman with a mysterious past.
One night, Ok-joo receives a call from an old friend, who immediately invites her to his house. After stopping for a drink (Ok-joo seems to like Bombay Sapphire), Ok-joo shows up at her friend Min-hee's apartment and learns that she committed suicide. In the cryptic note he left behind, Min Hee ordered Ok Joo to avenge his death . As a clue, he points to a man named Chief Choi.
Choi, a middle-class drug lord played by Kim Ji-hoon, has the face of Brandon Lee and the tender charm of Jared Leto. Oj-joo discovers that Choi is grooming the girls, forcing them to smoke cigarettes while under the influence of drugs, then threatening to post the videos on the Internet. He works in a mystical mansion a few miles outside of town and drives a black Lamborghini. Like always.
Korea's neon nightscape comes to life in "Ballerina," as Ok-joo alternates between the woman Nikita and the girl with the dragon tattoo on a blood-soaked revenge mission. He frowned and seethed as he moved steadily forward, leaving a trail of corpses behind him. But the action, at least in the first hour, is unfortunately variable. While it's clear that director Lee focused on pure visuals, a more subtle style of fight choreography might have been better suited to the film he wanted to make, hence the film's title.
But as beautiful as ballet is, there is a brutality to this dance form that is often overlooked. And this dissonance is very well rendered in Lee's film. Based on the skills he learned in his past life, Ok-joo's initial anger was a bit strange. But eventually, he evolved into a more subtle and bold fighting style. Ballerina ends with a climactic set piece set on a glittering farm in the bush, with a group of indomitable miscreants. This is the first time the film succeeds and delivers on the promise made in its thrilling opening moments. Cold cynicism explodes and gives way to visuals tinged with romanticism for an action film. It is difficult to reject this call.
Ballerina is the kind of film where the sounds and images , not the story, serve to attract the audience. Even if you don't think you're interested in a revenge mission, each image seems so complex that you can't help but take a closer look. This element is the definition of a style in the film , but that's what he wants. No more no less. It would be unfair to criticize him for the lack of depth that he never expressed.
Ballerina
Directed by Lee Cheong Hyun
Actors : Jung Jung So, Kim Ji Hoon, Park Yoo Rim
Rating – 3.5/5
