Park Chan-wook: From a Lady with Vengeance to Cyborg Love

During most of this decade, Park Chan-wook has been busy with his revenge trilogy, which has made him a world-wide name. First, there was a little Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, which was followed by more revenge in Old Boy. Finally, it was time for Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. After all that revenge, Park used his vision to create an atypical love story about a girl who thinks she's a Cyborg, and a boy with a robbery addiction. The setting: a mental hospital.

The film is either titled "Cyborg Girl," or "I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK" -- I am guessing that this is one of those times of tricky translation. It is not your average gloomy, dank, white asylum flick. Cyborg is actually Park's first film to garner a general admission rating. The trailer, which is available through Twitch, contains a lot of color without it seeming too much like a gumball explosion. Park attributes this to pulling the luxurious out of the ordinary. Su-jeong Lim might be dressed in a plain shift, but with her white eyebrows and blue-black hair, she manages to make even a potato sack sparkle.

JoongAng Daily just released a brief interview with Park, while he was finishing up post-production for the December 7 release. While the quirky aspects in the trailer make the film seem like one of those strange, oft-dismissed Japanese films, Park's discussion of salvation and youth says a lot about the possible depth of the movie. Yesterday's cyborg might have been that big, Belgian Van Damme, but it seems like today's version comes in a much smaller, feminine package.

[via Twitch]