Ballerina (2023)

Ballerina (2023)
Original Title: 발레리나
Translation: Ballerina

 

Starring: Jeon Jong-seo, Kim Ji-hoon, Park Yu-rim, Shin Se-Hwi, Kim Mu-Yeol, Jang Yoon-ju
Director: Lee Chung-hyun
Action Director: n/a

 

I don’t watch as many South Korean films as I should, even though they’ve consistently proven to be (for the most part) the best written, directed and photographed films coming out of East Asia since the turn of the millennium. Although they don’t do much in terms of pure martial arts these days, they often do action and suspense with at least one memorable set piece. I have seen some, and plan to watch much more, but I think that mainly has to do with Thailand and Hong Kong drying up in terms of action, and Mainland China being inconsistent with their quality. So, I have more time for South Korea. Time is a necessary component, since South Korean action movies—at least those on Netflix—regularly run about as long as a Harry Potter movie. It’s hard to just plop down and watch a 140-minute action epic, especially at this point in my life. But I will try to get a few more of these movies reviewed for your pleasure, so let’s start with the one that runs barely more than 90 minutes.

Ballerina is a pretty simple film. Ok-ju (Jeon Jong-seo, of Burning and Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon) is a former bodyguard with a (cough!) special set of skills. Those are introduced to the viewer via a scene in which she beats up some would-be convenience store robbers with a can of fruit. Beyond that, we don’t know much about her save the fact that she lives alone. One day, she receives a phone call from an old friend named Min-hee (Park Yu-rim), who works as a professional ballerina. We also don’t know much about Min-hee, save that she botched her last ballet performance because something was visibly disturbing her. When Ok-ju arrives at her apartment, she finds a present box with her ballet shoes inside and a note asking Ok-ju to avenge her. Ok-ju then finds her friend’s dead body in the bathtub with her wrists slit.

Ok-ju initially doesn’t have much to go on, save an online user name on the suicide note. She discovers that the user leads to an online sushi seller…who accepts payment in bitcoin. Not suspicious at all! Her break comes when the seller calls Min-hee’s cell phone, threatening her in some way if she doesn’t come out to meet him. Well, Min-hee has nothing more to worry about (being dead and all), which gives Ok-ju the liberty to go to the established point and spy on the mysterious caller. It turns out that the sushi-to-go business is a front for drugs (who would’ve thunk?). Ok-ju follows the guy—who drives a Lamborghini—back to his house. She bides her time until he leaves again before sneaking in and checking out the place. Once inside, she discovers a cabinet full of BDSM equipment and a collection of flash drives with videos of the guy, Choi (Kim Ji-hoon, of The Age of Blood), sleeping with different women, including Min-hee. So, there presumably was some sextortion going on.

Having filled the house with surveillance equipment, Ok-ju can listen in on the guy’s conversations and follows him to a club where he tells a friend he’s going “fishing.” Ok-ju attracts the man’s attention and allows herself to be wooed by him, who takes her to a special hotel off the beaten path. He tries to slip her a roofie and go all leather bondage on her, but she’s ready. She beats him up real good, even going so far as to slice his cheek wide open with a knife. She makes it out of the place with one of the girls who was forced to work there as a prostitute by her side. But you know how these things go: establishments focusing on a human sex trafficking rarely are run by a lone individual. There’s usually an organization involved. And the gang who runs that hotel will not be happy to know that some upstart femboss™ is getting in the way of their business…

Ballerina is fairly middle of the road when it comes to female-centric action movies, which we’ve gotten a ton of in the past decade from countries outside of Hong Kong/China. On the good side, the film is generally well-acted, well photographed, and just all-around good looking. Not only is the photography particularly strong, but the use of colors (like the neon lights that adorn Min-hee’s apartment) and lighting makes it a very pretty film all around. The story is very intimate, and even when the action takes a step up on the scale of grandiosity at the end, it still feels very personal, unlike the constant barrage of world-ending events in the MCU, the city-ending events in Batman films, or even the one-man army nature of the John Wick films.

The problem is the action, at least in my estimation. First of all, there isn’t enough of it. The very first scene is the set up for a fight. The second fight comes near the end of the first half. And then there’s the big finale, which is actually an exciting sequence of gun-fu, with Ok-ju taking on an entire drug lab full of goons. There is a lot of up-close gun fire as she repels and deflects melee attacks and then shoots her opponents as they become vulnerable. That particular sequence was actually quite good, if too heavy on the shaky cam. The other problem is that the fights are very much in the Bourne style of shaky cam, quick cuts and fast edits. Although actress Jeon Jong-seo did her own stunts, it’s clear that she’s no master of tae kwon do or hapkido and the editing style is more to make up for her shortcomings in the fighting department. Although I can agree that this rapid-fire editing style can be done well—which this film does—I’m just not a fan of it. It certainly looks better than, say, Batman Begins. But it’s not really my cup of tea.

That said, the other aspects of the film work for the most part. The villain is slimy enough that you want to see Ok-ju kill him dead. There are some fun quirky characters, like the old couple that serve as Ok-ju’s arms dealers. Their scene was especially amusing. And like I said, the production values are good, the money goes onscreen quite well, and I like the intimate change of pace for the story. I just wanted more and better action.