| Just like the gentle neighborhood in which it's set, there's something awfully sweet and small-townish about the new local film "Annyong! UFO (Hello! U.F.O)." A romantic comedy about two young strangers who meet by chance, the film doesn't try to be much more than a pleasant look into an almost too polite courtship.
Sang-hyon (Lee Beom-su) is a bus driver working the late shift in a quiet suburban area of Seoul. An avid vinyl fan with little ambition for much else, Sang-hyon is content to spend his free time at home, DJ'ing mix tapes of old rock songs, which he then plays on his bus.
But things begin to change when Kyong-wu (Lee Eun-ju), a young blind woman with a broken heart, becomes a passenger on Sang-hyon's bus. Having moved to the neighborhood to get away from a disastrous relationship, Kyong-wu is determined to make it on her own despite her disability.
Sang-hyon steals glances at her from his driver's seat and after a while, develops a crush on Kyong-wu. But Sang-hyon is too shy to make a move. Even when a chance meeting leads to a friendship between the two, Sang-hyon, out of simple but pure embarrassment, hides behind a false name and identity.
Lee's role as the overly shy Sang-hyon may be familiar to viewers who saw last year's hit comedy "Oh! Brothers," in which the 31-year-old actor played a 12-year-old boy with an aging disorder. Though the hysterical antics have been toned down, there's the same sense of sweet immaturity in both characters.
But the similarity between the two films pretty much ends there. While Oh! Brothers tempered the sweetness with the slapstick, "UFO" seems happy to meander along, letting the minor romance develop at a crawl. The lack of urgency to the whole affair makes the story seem more suited to television than the big screen.
The small-town feel is even stronger in the supporting neighborhood characters, most of whom spend a large part of the movie obsessing over finding a UFO rumored to bring good luck. With a cast of volatile couples, quirky teenagers and odd old men, the film tries its best to create a sense of wholesome innocence about their search. Unfortunately, much like the main romantic relationship, it all ends up being too syrupy for its own good.
Courtesy of Joon Soh, Korea Times.
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