This is an old korean film way back 2005 and honestly we watched this because of actress
Geun-young Moon. We liked her in "My Little Bride" so when we found this we got to see this.
Synopsis - A great mentor/dancer Na Young-Sae is shown in the first part of the film in a dance competition and was sabotaged by the other dancers (I don't know why - not mentioned in the film) maybe due to their competitive nature and eventually he got injured in the process. He lost and his injury took some time to heal. He stopped dancing (I think) and he plans to do a comeback and hires somebody to bring him a new partner. His manager brings him one from China (no other dancers in Korea maybe) in the form of Jang Chae-rin, whom they found out later was not the dancer they "smuggled". So that they can bring in Chae-rin, the manager gave her a fiancee visa of sorts and they should be "married" adding to the complications in the story. The story then proceeds to the part where Young-Sae tries to teach Chae-rin to dance. Imagine Young-Sae's predicament, trying to enlist Chae-rin in a dance competition with less than 4 months for preparation. And this is his comeback in the dance scene. Twists and turns come in and eventually the got their "fixed" marriage, Young-Sae was not able to compete but Chae-rin was able to. Chae-rin won and somehow along the way, she and Young Sae caught in a romantic dance in the end.
That somewhat sums up the whole story.
Now our view of this film. Its similar to all dance movies, wherein the guy is the mentor and the girl is the student. girl falls in love with the guy, guy won't fight for his love, girl moves away a bit, then guy chases the girl. Along the way bad guys show up and gives the story some spice. Typical dance movie.
Remember this is a korean movie and drama is tied with something else and twists aren't given a new take for the unwary viewer. This is why we like korean movies, they offer some surprises that sometimes will throw you off guard.
Bad guys here come in the form of rival dancers, his manager, and some immigration officers checking into their fake marriage. The latter we find a bit too much although they were the comedic relief to the otherwise boring acting of the other characters. The story was so predictable and slow that they added these scenes. If you ask us, they can do away with these comedy as they do not have an effect to the film at all.
Another surprise for us is the the way they introduced Chae-rin into the mix. We couldn't just accept the fact that they can't find one good dancer in Korea and they have to "smuggle" one from China. They have to spend a lot of money bringing Chae-rin only to find out that she switched with her dancer sister. Its a case of human smuggling and contract marriage and when the Manager found out the switch, domestic violence is added to the cases mentioned already. These are serious violations of human rights and this film decided to include it herein. Oh well, they just want us to feel sorry for Chae-rin. Then Young-Sae comes to the rescue. Two down with their luck individuals trying to make it big time I guess.
Next scene we see the couple toiling to teach and learn the dance steps for their competition and everything is smooth sailing then another twist comes in. The bad guys, the manager and the bad dancers come in and rough Young-Sae rough him up so bad that he was unfit to compete. Chae-rin is now forced to dance with another partner. She showed resistance at first then somehow the virgin left footed dancer became a world class dancer at the competition. Wow. The transformation happened in front of Young-Sae adding to the excitement to the viewer.
This was a very long and slow drama film that somehow we would have given a low rating and simply forgot about it. However, having said that, this film had its brightest moments as well.
This is a love story and we truly appreciated the romantic interludes between the two. They might not be physically involved except for the dancing part, but emotionally you can feel the sparks between the two.
We liked the scene when Young-Sae scolded Chae-rin for dancing stiff. He then asked Chae-rin if she loved him. Only people in love can offer their hearts and body to another. (I'm just paraphrasing here). After this short spiel, Chae-rin shows she's in love with Young-Sae and proceeds to dance gracefully.
The best romantic scene here is their interrogation scene at the marriage office. They were interviewed to see if they really are in love and their union wasn't arranged or fixed. Remember that all during the film, they didn't show physical involvement, only emotional sparks. So it was so great to see them, in separate rooms, and pouring their love for each other. This scene I can always watch over and over and simply skip the other parts of this film.
Another scene is during the competition. Chae-rin was reluctant to dance with another partner yet when she sees Young-Sae watching her, pretends she was dancing with him. She shows how great she is in dancing and Young-Sae is so proud of her.
Let me remind you that this is a korean film right? So a korean film also have something to make you feel good at the end. When Chae-rin was introduced in the film, she brought something from China, a larvae (?) of a firefly. You can't bring in produce, agricultural product, much less insects across the border yet here she is bringing one. This firefly is so important in the film that is why she brought it.
In the last scene, Chae-rin after winning the competition, has little love left for Korea (except for Young-Sae) plans to return to China. She decides to stopby Young-Sae for a farewell. She sees him limping, and sad and when they saw each other, yada yada yada, they proceed to hug. About the fireflies? They transformed. Here we see them fireflies flying hovering around the couple. That's how a korean movie should end.
There were a lot of unbelievable things happening in the movie but I liked it because of that scene in the marriage office. This is a love story and I can turn a blind eye to the other details as long as the couple's love transcends to the viewer like me. I'm a hopeless romantic and I like films like this. If only the other details were credible, I could have strongly suggested this to my friends.
