A underrated Gem with a great Bae Doona performance

Been a fan of Bae Doona for while now, and I've seen nearly all of the work she's done but this gem was toughie to find on DVD. But doing a little DVD shopping in Tower Records and found this for 5 euro, so snapped it up.

I think it's the fourth film she did, and it's a low budget Korean film. the basic premise,Five girls in the South Korean port city of Incheon graduate from high school and struggle to keep their friendship alive, even as adulthood forces them down separate paths. Hae-Jo takes a job in the financial world, while Ji-young becomes withdrawn following a family tragedy. Twin sisters are satisfied peddling junk jewelry on the street. And despite the best efforts of Tae-hee (Bae Doo-na) to keep everyone together, the girls become increasingly distant.

It's really about Hae-Jo, Ji Young and Tae-Hee. The other two friends (twin sisters) are really underwritten and only there for the laughs, and I never got the sense that they were close to the other three as the film never really gave them anything to do. It's one of the nit picks I have with the film. Bae Donna is the de facto leader of the group, and is trying to keep the peace between snobbish selfish Hae-jo and layabout Ji-Young who's stuck in a rut with her life.

Bae Donna delivers one of her sweetest performances, she isn't her usually wacky self or out there. She's the hero of the film. She just wants to have her group of friends (who she really cares for) and wants to get away from her selfish family who make her work for nothing in their local business. Ji-Young Ok is great as the most tragic of the friends who is from the poorest background, she delivers a performance every bit as great as Donna. Lee Yo-Won does a great job with a character who is really such a dislikeable sort and horrible friend, and you wonder why Bae Donna's character even tries. They sort of try to redeem her in the end but I just never bought into it.

But the film has a nice ending for two of the characters. It's well worth trying to find it as Bae Donna delivers one of her more laid back performances and it's nice to see a low budget indie from south Korea. It's got a great soundtrack as well. 8/10