This stylish short film focuses on a male gigolo in the South Korean community of an American city; he is paid for companionship or whatever else. As a presentation it is engaging in its style but it is pretty light when it comes to the substance. As a narrative it is quite simple, with only two main interactions between the main character and female clients, and the rest spend silently showing the struggle to be "normal" while living this life. On the face of it, it is pretty ordinary and obvious, but it still worked reasonably well for me - although I do wonder how much I was doing versus the film doing.
What added the value for me was that I did enjoy the moments of silence where the lead actor had the space to deliver the struggle with his own humanity. It sounds all very obvious but Sunho Yoo makes it work and delivers a lot with how much tension he holds in his body and face at key points - and the way he does the opposite when it matters too. In addition to this, I wondered why the scenes of service struck me as dehumanizing when if the genders were reversed it would probably not have been as obviously thus. I know the reason is my gender, but this thought still engaged me and added to the film.
It is all still too light to make a lasting mark, but there is more to this than the superficial aspects would suggest.
What added the value for me was that I did enjoy the moments of silence where the lead actor had the space to deliver the struggle with his own humanity. It sounds all very obvious but Sunho Yoo makes it work and delivers a lot with how much tension he holds in his body and face at key points - and the way he does the opposite when it matters too. In addition to this, I wondered why the scenes of service struck me as dehumanizing when if the genders were reversed it would probably not have been as obviously thus. I know the reason is my gender, but this thought still engaged me and added to the film.
It is all still too light to make a lasting mark, but there is more to this than the superficial aspects would suggest.
