Ssa-i-bo-geu-ji-man-gwen-chan-a
Tags: insanity, psychedelic, romantic, flashback

Plot synopsis:
While working in a radio assembly factory, Cha Young-goon (Su-jeong Lim) loses touch with reality, opens her wrist with a knife, inserts a power-cord and plugs herself into a wall outlet. As this scene unfolds we are brought up-to-date on her story with rapid cuts to her mother's interview with a psychiatric hospital doctor. Naturally the doctor is trying to determine the roots of Young-goon's psychosis, but the interview with Mom hints that this may be a family problem; Mom seems none too stable herself. Back in the factory Young-goon is lying on the floor, still in her chair, and we can see from her right foot that the shock has brought her inner battery up to full strength. Her toes light up to show her state of charge. As all of this is going on we see production credits as circuit board labels, uniform name tags, and other text scattered around the film.The opening credits covered we then see Young-goon being wheeled around the hospital by what appears to be one of the staff. Other patients are pointed out by this "staff member" with many of the other patient's issues being covered. The "staff-member" however, turns out to be another patient who makes up stories to replace the memories she's lost due to amnesia. At this point we are introduced to Park Il-soon (Rain) who is the reigning ping-pong champion. He wears masks, and believes he is capable of stealing other patient's personality traits.A story develops as Park Il-soon seeks to overcome his anti-social tendencies by helping other patients with their problems. In the process he steals one patient's apologetic attitude, another's singing voice, and Young-goon's sympathy (a sin for a cyborg) so she can kill the "white 'uns" who took her granny away. We discover that the "white 'uns" are hospital doctors and nurses.As the movie progresses we get to delve into the mental state of a number of the patients. A girl who can yodel Alpine songs, but can only view the world through a hand mirror. Another who can fly while lying prone and rubbing her magic socks together. A man who walks backward so no one can sneak up on him. Park Il-soon also steals Young-goon's sympathy so she can kill the "white 'uns." With ll-soon's help she has a successful hallucination of killing off the entire hospital staff.In reality she has stopped eating for fear food will gum up her inner (cyborg) workings. Park ll-soon figures this out and fits her with a rice-megatron so she can convert food to electricity. Having fitted her with this device he successfully gets her to start eating again to the delight of staff and patient population. Park Il-soon has his own issues, thinking he'll shrink into a dot unless he constantly brushes his teeth. The teeth, you see, are the last thing to go.Toward the end Park Il-soon has helped a number of other patients with his ability to steal personality traits.At the conclusion he and Young-goon interpret a vision she's had of her granny telling her the meaning of Young-goon's existence. Since Young-goon could not actually hear granny she and Park ll-sun figure out the message via lip reading. Young-goon's purpose, it is determined, is to explode (she's a nuclear bomb), but she requires a billion volts to pull this off. The two of them figure out that lighting is the best way to accomplish this.Out in a thunderstorm the two of them have a picnic under a tent. They are going to use Young-goon's radio antenna to harness the lightening required to detonate her. The antenna is attached to a wheeled intravenous stand. Unknown to Young-goon, Park ll-soon has attached a wine bottle cork to the top of the antenna to prevent any actual electrocution. A fierce wind kicks up blowing away the tent and we find the two sitting on the tarp, each clinging to the intravenous stand awaiting a lightning strike. They decide to remove their wet socks and later all of their clothes as they are wet. As morning breaks we see the two of them, making love on the tarp watching a rainbow develop on the horizon as the credits roll.

Review: Granted, Cyborg is a far different film from all of Park's other works, and especially in the world of romantic comedies falls into the really freaking weird category, but I found it to be really entertaining.
Young Goon(brilliantly played by Lim Soo Jung)is a patient who thinks she's a cyborg, having a strong dislike towards doctors(because they took away her grandmother when she was young)and not eating food for fear that her robot-body would break down.
It's not your average blockbuster, I don't even know if foreigners would like this movie,seeing as that Lim Soo Jung and Rain are not famous in the western world.(although Rain was named one of the 100most influential people by Time Magazine last year) But in a world where the film industry is running out of ideas, this film is definitely outstanding, unlike the average cliché Korean love stories filled with Cinderella stories and triangular relationships.
Ill try to somehow review this in short although im one of the persons who is mindblowed by this movie.Sure im biased to like Chan-wook Parks movies since i could laugh at about any scene with his simple but spot on dialogues and tiny hints of humor.
So beware if you aren't interested in any of the psychological, spiritual or philosophical thoughts that the movie is offering, because it is packed full.Cha Young-goon, the main character played by Su-jeong Lim is experiencing a big trauma in her youth and - perhaps - copes by 'becoming' a cyborg (You could guess her inspiration comes from her grandma - the rat) and with it comes some guidelines, the Sins.
It doesn't matter that the ending is abrupt, if you feel like me, you want to watch it again and again to pick up on things you missed and to go through the emotions all over again.I will have to be bold and say that although Oldboy is not far behind, this is the best from Chan-wook Park and hence one of the best movies period..
There are ways to do romantic comedies, just as their are ways of doing sincere dark comedies set in mental hospitals, and Chan-Wook Park goes to fantastic and unexpected lengths of subverting expectations with truly nutty- and this may be the nuttiest movie to come out of Korea this, uh, month- ideas and visuals being explored, while never skimping on making these people to care about.
Indeed, as I thought more about it, what Park goes for is almost experimental; what would it be like to have as the pivotal character of a movie the person in the loony bin who is near unresponsive to other people and who won't eat any food?
At first we're plunged into her mind-set: she's a cyborg, after all, and she marks up her energy levels by her toes lighting up, and takes in such energy by licking batteries as opposed to regular consumption.But she also has a troubled past, though more-so in the memories of her grandmother, whom she was closest with, and who we see in flashbacks was tossed away into a sanitarium, as Young-Goon was eventually, instead of actually dealing with them as real fellow family members.
It's Park's funniest film, loaded with his bravura sense of style that is brutally self-conscious with the camera (lots of wonderful usages of color from greens to reds to whites and blues and so on, 360' pans, high-flying shots, a great split-screen involving two characters in two separate solitary rooms connected by two cups and a string) as well as with very assured direction.
To see someone make films like 'Cyborg' or Oldboy is to see someone who doesn't mind obviously flashy moments, because there are just as many moments that are more intimate in connection between the characters.But as I said, it's a very funny movie, with the various character in the mental hospital veritable caricatures: there's one guy who got tossed in by apologizing to everyone involved in an accident he wasn't involved in, and one fat woman who when not stealing Young-Goon's food is trying to get static electricity going from rubbing her feet, and random characters doing wacky things in the halls behind main characters talking.
This makes up the emotional tie between the two main characters, and the struggle to compromise a mental state that can't be fixed and a more pragmatic goal- eating food- leads to a real emotional highlight.Only the denouement, or what could be considered that perhaps, as there's a nuke/bomb element thrown in with outdoor rain scenes that feel real unnecessary (albeit there's a tremendous final shot for the film), and little bits involving the supporting characters that could be left out (what's with the guy that won't stop yelling?).
I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK is definitely a radical departure, although it does retain Park's visual quirkiness.Young-goon has Cher-like hair, and wide, innocent eyes; we instantly fall in love with her.
The main point about the movie I need to say is, that it fails to say anything about mental illness, or create a characters that you care about.This story has to be one of the weirdest things I've seen in years...but weird isn't enough.
The characters are cute and quirky and played with gusto by the cast, but, try as i might, i could not bring myself to care for any.SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE was a misstep, indicating perhaps that Park was overindulging himself a little bit, but it still managed to showcase some of the director's unique flare and in the wake of an impressive filmography, was readily forgiven.
Despite boosting one of Korea's most successful idol Rain in his first feature outing, and director Park Chan-Wook of Sympathy of Lady Vengeance fame, fans in Korea were less than impressed with I'm a Cyborg, But that's Okay.The 'problem' with this movie is that it does not fall into the cookie cutter of Korean melodrama of soapy tales with dying protagonist of unrequited love.
Il-Sun (Rain), a mental institution mate who steals personality traits from other patients, is secretly in love with her.Using fanatical and violent characters is nothing new in director Park Chan-wook's movies, and what the movie has to offer is really out of this world.
In a way, this is apart of the film's overall downfall  the sweet and somewhat humorous look at a budding romance using psychological problems as a backdrop.In a sense, you have to admire what the director, Chan-wook Park, has done here and that's if I've read into it correctly.
There is a brief back-story to do with Young-goon's grandmother being taken away but I don't think it acts as a dramatic enough catalyst for her eating disorder to begin.So rather than include scenes that suggest an in depth study, the film spends most of its time having Young-goon shooting up the hospital asylum they're all staying at as well as throwing in other such dream sequences to do with socks that enable you to fly.
The film is a love story at the end of the day about one individual who thinks they're a robot but is actually anorexic and someone else who believes they can steal people's souls when really they're probably crying out for attention.Park is able to get that attention with Young, and is able to act out 'repairing' her which pays reference to whatever's imaginatively inside her; his belief of being able to 'take' souls is played into being able to 'fix' gears and cogs but it's the fact he believes he has actual access to people's insides that counts here.
Director Park Chan Wook creates a colourful world surrounding some unique characters and as always it is done with beauty and sensitivity only this time without the heavy and dark story lines of his earlier work, ie; the vengeance trilogy.
There is a balance between the surreal happenings and the sad moments that bring you back to reality.Young Goon(Lim Soo Jung)thinks she's a cyborg and is trying to find her purpose in life.
Her childhood misfortunes - watching her grandmother being taken away by doctors and her mother being a bit secretly deranged - have lead to this desire to find her correct path, or in her terms; what she was built for.When she gets shut a way in a hospital, under the instructions of her mother to keep her cyborg-nature a secret, she finds herself unintentionally befriending fellow patient Il Soon (Rain) and as he finds out about her secret worries he tries to help her come to terms with it all.it is a love story but from the outset not a straight forward one.
The movie is set in a mental institution and introduces us to a lot unique characters: a shy man who is always excusing himself, a man who believes his wife is made of fur, a fat woman who thinks she can fly, a strange couple that sings along to traditional Swiss songs by yodelling and so on.
Young-Goon believes she is a cyborg that needs to be recharged to gain enough power to realize her plans which is dangerous for people around her and especially for herself.In the mental institution, she meets Il-Soon who is hospitalized for kleptomania stemming from schizophrenia.
But the young man soon has to develop further plans to protect the love of her life when she starts to believe that she is in fact a nuke bomb that requires a bolt of lightning to detonate and bring the end to the world.While the story lacks direction and feels fluffy at times, this fact isn't important as the movie is about something completely different.
The movie surely has some lengths and I think the film should have spend some more time on the supporting characters instead of the main story that only truly develops in the last third of the movie.
Director Park Chan-Wook who is known for completely different movies like "Oldboy" created a truly courageous and unexpected gem that may one day be hailed as a classic.
I've seen Lady V, Old Boy, Three Extremes and now this.I think i've made my decision, this director isn't actually any good.The movies all look good, but don't have good stories really, these movies are weak in every aspect and all the way through watching all these movies i can't shrug the feeling that these movies are only here to make a bit of money and then run.If you like this type of Asian film (Park Chan-Wook, Pang Brothers) this may be up your street, but for me it had no soul.
A strange and at first glance difficult movie to follow, but it pays off, being visually stunning and very colorful with a captivating story.A girl is admitted to an asylum because she thinks she is a cyborg and refuses to eat because she'll become ill if she does.
Inevitably she creates connections with other patients, especially with a young man who gains her affection and he, through his 'visionary madness', does everything to help her overcome her problem.What sets this movie apart is that it is done in such a way that we can literally see and understand the madness of the characters who, in spite of this madness, never cease to be human beings as sensitive or even more than the 'normal ones'.
Park Chan-Wook's incredibly strange romantic art-house film narrates the romance and carnage that follows when a woman who fantasises that she is a cyborg meets a paranoid man in a mental institution who believes that he is steadily transforming into a single dot.
'I'm a Cyborg' is one of the most entertaining films I've seen in a long time, with a perfectly weird combination of comedy, romance, sci-fi, and something I like to call asylum drama, which places it in an entirely new genre of its own.
Being set in a mental hospital often means that you'll see some crazy stuff in a film, and that's certainly the case here: not only do you experience the 'madness' of all the patients, you see most of the movie from Young-oon's perspective, meaning you spend the whole film with a 'cyborg'.
The film takes place in a mental asylum where a patient falls in love with the 'cyborg'.
She ends up eventually falling in love with another man who thinks he can steal people souls.There are some really funny moments like when the woman tries to talk to a vending machine.
But hey, we all have our own unique likes and dislikes.If you sit down to watch "I'm a cyborg", do not expect to be laughing until you are out of breath, but do be prepared to be taken into a unique and quirky world within the confines of the mental institute and in the minds of those within the walls here.I give it a 6/10 rating because the movie was good entertainment, despite its somewhat odd story.
South-Korean director Chan-wook directs an original story about friendship and love in a mental asylum.Cha Young-goon (played by Im Su-jeong) develops a mental illness after her schizophrenic grandmother is interned and separated from her.
When interned, Cha meets Park Il-soon (played by Rain) a ping-pong player antisocial guy that steals other people's souls, who takes an immediate interest in her.What makes this film so especial is that the movie offers the reality both as the insane see it, from their subjective point of view, but also as what it is, that is from an objective point of view.
It could have been really easy to present the insane as pathologically aggressive and nasty, as most movies about madness do, or like loonies without feelings or real human heart, but the script deviates from the obvious and presents a surreal world that is full of magic, pain, suffering and happiness, in which different people with a different pathology are able to tick and connect to a deep human level.All the characters are treated with empathy, tenderness, warmth, naivety and a great sense of humor.
Romance is just another piece in the puzzle, the one that gives its magic to the story, the redemptive element of Cha's survival; it develops piano piano, but is not cheesy but wonderfully quirky and special.All cast members are good in their respective roles, and the main actors, Im an Rain (and the actress who plays the food-obsessed lady) are believable in their portray of their fragile but complex characters.My main critique to the movie is its pacing, that is sometimes a bit too slow, and the cohesion among all the insane in the asylum, which is obvious in some parts of the movie, but it is not well explained or shown at times.
On the other hand, what you have here is a visually memorable if somewhat slight mind trip of a film, not without its problems from a storytelling angle.The story deals with a young woman, believing herself to be a cyborg, gets checked into a mental institution.
I'M A CYBORG BUT THAT'S OK is an offbeat romantic comedy from director Park-Chan Wook, the man responsible for some of the darkest visions in modern cinema (OLDBOY and SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE to name but two titles).
The main characters on the film are all insane, this is never in doubt and there is no pretense that they are misunderstood or that it is all societies fault, this in itself is unusual for a film dealing with insane people.The film is reminiscent of the sort of thing Tim Burton sometimes produces, bright and airy with occasionally spectacular visuals and strange, quirky humour.The cast all play their roles well with the two leads especially delivering good performances.There are lots of funny moments as we are introduced to the various inhabitants of the asylum and get to see their delusions played out as Park Il-sun uses his delusion to steal their restraint and as the film progresses we see a merging of delusions to allow for stranger and stranger visual effects.This is a romantic comedy but the romance part sometimes falls a little flat given the emotionally damaged nature of the protagonists, but the comedy is always present and keeps the film moving as we develop some sympathy for the various lunatics.A good, fun film, if you are expecting something like the Vengeance films you will be disappointed but it you just want a little dose of humour and imagination this is a good one to watch..
A cute love story about Young-Goon and Il-Sun. I honestly believe that this movie is one of the gems of Korean cinema...
I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK runs along similar lines, having its two lead characters patients of a psychiatric ward, but therein lies some structure of a story about love, reaching out, and in making sense of life (not to mention the movie as well).Directed by Park Chan-wook who gave us his famous Vengeance trilogy (Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance), it's a very big leap from that trilogy, into something more fantastical, light hearted, bright, and may I say, at times nonsensical as well.
Crazy!Chan-Wook Park is the director with his unique style in film language.
It's a film full of interesting characters and great performances, but the two that stood out were Su-jeong Lim as Cha Young-goon and Rain as Park Il-sun.
Saibogujiman kwenchana is just not OK, it's really good movie, though it's not like there is much happening during film, movie basically tells us tale of woman who has mental illness and thinks that she's cyborg, in mental home there's man who fells for her and helps her with her problem.
It is not about sex; it is, instead, a story of care and compassion for one's fellow human being.I predict that in the coming decades this will be seen as Park Chan- wook's finest film.