Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mr. Pink]

[Yesterday]

Damn... they stole my idea.... I was contemplating making the same type of movie - showing the good, the bad and funny side of being a Foreign teacher in Korea -

Oh well.... maybe I can change my idea a bit - and title it "Please pay my salary"

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Please Teach Me English, 'Yeongeowanjeonjeongbok'(2003)




Region code: 3
Subtitles: English, Korean
Running time: 113 min.
Rating: 12+
Sound: DTS, DD 5.1
Homepage: http://www.englishkiller.com/


Fluency in English is still seen by Koreans as a sure ticket to obtaining and maintaining success. Both young and old generations spend considerable time and money to master the language, usually with few tangible results. Finally, a Korean director has focused cameras on this mad pursuit of English, and fortunately, he did it with comic flair. Few fans believed Kim Sung-su could make the switch from sleek action movies like "Beat" (1997) and "Musa" (Warriors, 2002) to a romantic comedy, but his recent smash "Please Teach Me English" has dispelled all doubts, proving he can amuse as well as excite.

Kim combined two tales familiar to all Koreans: "Cinderella" and the story of people intent on mastering English. But in his version of the classic fairytale, the main characters are more realistic. His Cinderella is a low-level civil servant. While the prince does still sometimes hold a slipper, that is because he's a shoe salesman, not a dashing heir in search of the perfect match. Na Yeong-ju (played by Lee Na-yeong) is just "no-ru-mal" with thick-rimmed spectacles and a dead-end job. Her prince Mun-su (idol star Jang Hyeok) is fairly average as well. But he is handsome and takes a great interest in the size of her foot. An attractive blonde English conversation instructor (Australian actress Angela Kelly) and Mun-su's younger sister serve as her evil stepmother and stepsister. They block her from finding happiness, albeit more from her own invalid assumptions than any true malice.

Yeong-ju and Mun-su have their own reasons for taking on English: The "no-ru-mal" girl was shamed into it after failing to communicate even the simplest English to a foreigner visiting her office. As for Mun-su, his mother needs him as an interpreter. They've learned his English-speaking sister, adopted by foreign parents at a young age, will be in Korea in three months to discover her roots.

The two wind up in the same beginner's English course, and through tortuous but funny banter, "She is no-ru-mal (normal)." "I'm not nou-mal" (normal). "I'm beau-u-ri-ful and goal-jeous" (beautiful and gorgeous), Yeong-ju finds her prince charming, even if he doesn't realize it. She sets out to catch his attention by mastering English, sometimes memorizing entire dictionary passages.

From beginning to end, Yeong-ju's quirky behavior is charming, reminiscent of Jeon Ji-hyeon's character in "My Sassy Girl" (2001). But this movie doesn't only rely on bizarre antics for laughs, it develops the main figures and their stories and rises above what is all too "no-ru-mal" in the comedies of today.



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[mithridates]

Saw it today, it was okay...after watching it though, it seems like it would be a little irritating to a person who's never been here. Funnier to a person who's lived here for a while, and a little bit funnier to one of those who knows Korean to a certain extent.

Come on Mr. Pink, you have to agree that the level test scene in the beginning was pretty good...

[syclick]

I too was disspointed. It had its funny bits, but it coulda been a whole lot better.

C'mon... how hard is it to screw up a movie with Lee Nayoung in it?

[Len8]

A bit off the topic, but there was an article in the Herald about more Korean movies having English subtitles. Originally it was thought that English subtitles would be too distracting for Korean viewers. Now it is being argued by korean media people that it is a good way for learning English.

[ratslash]

[Holyjoe]

I watched this movie last night, it was reasonably good.
On the point of the Aussie teacher, perhaps she is a fluent Korean speaker, in which case well done to her. Then again, and more likely, she's an actress and was probably given the speech coaching in order to learn the appropriate pronunciations...
The new movie 'Passion of The Christ' was shot almost entirely in Latin and Aramaic - I doubt the actors were overly fluent in those languages before filming.

A quick Internet Movie Database search for Angela Kelly's name says she was the star of an Australian TV show called "Minty" - Aussies on here can tell us whether she was any good in that or not!

[Son Deureo!]

The Aussie teacher's Korean was meant to be a running joke, and it makes her look like a clown. In class she always addresses her adult students in "ban mal"(informal Korean), a social faux pas that also makes her sound like a child.

The pizza delivery guy tries to give her a quick fix, telling her to add "yo" to the end of all her sentences so she can stop sounding so rude. Unfortunately, he has a regional accent (Chungcheon Province, I think), so he actually ends up telling her to add "you". The teacher ends up saying things like "annyeonghase-you" "saranghae-you", etc. making things even worse.

I found myself cringing every time she opened her mouth in Korean, and hearing the Korean audience laugh. It reminded me of Hollywood Asian stereotypes a la "Charlie Chan", and "Me so horny", as well as the rude responses that all too many Koreans show to foreigners trying to learn their language.

In spite of this, I got a kick out of this movie. It's good to see a movie poking fun at the Korean obsession with learning English. It's long overdue.

[wylde]

that link sent me a dud copy

[peppermint]

[intergalactic]

I've never hard of Angela Kelly and I've never heard of the show Minty. Is this the movie I saw a clip of on tellie last year with a whole lot of ajoshis peering down some foreign girl's cleavage?

[Son Deureo!]

That does happen in the movie, yes.

[matthewwoodford]

I liked the movie's different take on the whole English teaching business and agreed with a lot of the things said but that bad taste of Korean nationalism made it stick in my throat. All part of what made the main character such an incredible stuck up biyatch.

[Mashimaro]

[Len8]

The movie was actually one of the top 6 Korean movies for 2003. Others ahead of it were "Two Sisters", "Memories of a Murder" and a few others that I can't remember right now.