Samjin Company English Class (2020) [Film Review]

Samjin Company English Class; or, Girl Power!
     Do you know why office workers can’t be detectives? We have neither time nor authority.
I think I would not have discovered this film if it had not been for a recommendation from my wonderful friend from MDL, Yuanwei. Samjin Company English Class is a 2020 comedy drama directed by Lee Jong Pil and Lee Jung Beom. It is yet another motion picture (see Office Royale: Hell’s Garden and Shomuni franchise) focusing on the challenging plight of hardworking office ladies.

Release Info

Directed by: Lee Jong Pil, Lee Jung Beom Starring: Go Ah Sung, Esom, Park Hye Soo

Language: Korean Original Title: 삼진그룹 영어토익반 Runtime: 110 min

Synopsis
South Korea, 1995. This is a time of major economic growth for the country. Companies are expanding to international markets and Windows has become a leading operating system across the globe. We follow three office ladies: Lee Ja Young (Go Ah Sung), Jeong Yoo Na (Esom), and Sim Bo Ram (Park Hye Soo) who are forced to do petty tasks at Samjin Corporation. Nevertheless, the three friends are ambitious and resourceful. They want to climb up the career ladder. As a result, they sign up to TOEIC-level English class. One day, Lee Ja Young accidentally discovers that there is a spill of a toxic substance known as Phenol from the Samjin factory. The office ladies begin their private investigation in the course of which they uncover a corporate conspiracy.

English is easy
I have to say that Samjin Company English Class feels very much like a spiritual companion piece to Shomuni (1998). The narrative structure is the same: OLs with vibrant personalities are basically the underdogs, and they oppose their white-collar superiors; the time setting fits perfectly: the 1990s; and even their company uniforms look very similar. Needless to say, these are the basic ingredients which make this movie entertaining, and even better than the reboot season of Shomuni from 2013.

I very much appreciated that the main heroines are not hateful or toxic towards each other, but from beginning to the end, they had each other’s back and were really engaged in doing their own investigation/corporate espionage. What is more, each character utilised her personal skill to get the job done. At first, I thought that the English class with this introverted, yet a bit impatient teacher (totally me, by the way) was just a comic-relief gimmick, but it actually served a purpose in the context of the film! In consequence, I very much value the message coming from this movie. That is: If you want to achieve something, you need to better yourself and never give up.

The ending was, in general, satisfying but a bit convoluted. In order to understand what is going on, you need to have a good idea of how big corporations actually work. Initially, I thought that there would be a hostile takeover, but actually, the baddies lowered the value of a company and tried to merge it with another one. I hope I understood this correctly. I sucked at a Business English course at my university. In addition, I don’t think that what I just wrote is a spoiler because there are many plot twists in the finale.

Speaking about performances, I love all the main actresses so much! Esom in particular won me over with her elegant and confident demeanour. Go Ah Sung is adorable as the office lady who wants to make a difference. Sim Bo Ram is extremely funny as a reserved maths genius who constantly looks for a fish called Rambo(!). Kim Jong Soo has a great supporting part as Sim Bo Ram’s mentor and friend. It is also nice to see Bae Hae Seon in a small role as a copywriter. As for David McInnis (who did very well as the CEO), casting foreign actors as baddies in Korean productions gradually becomes a clichéd trope. Please someone do something about this.

Recommendations
Samjin Company English Class is worth your attention mainly due to great performances, wonderful retrowave music score, top-notch production design, and cinematography filled with warm colours. The end credits constitute a separate, little artwork as well! So yes, you can’t go wrong with these office ladies. I am hoping that there is a chance for a sequel.

Overall score: 8/10

«Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us»

Love and Leashes (2022) [Film Review]

Love and Leashes; or, In the Realm of Domination
     I told you I don't think you're a pervert. Or maybe you are. Aren't we all somewhat perverted?
Well, that escalated quickly. As I have previously stated in my review of The Naked Director (2019-2021), I am not really into kinky stuff, so I initially avoided the hype for Love and Leashes, a 2022 South Korean rom-com based on a webtoon called Moral Sense. However, after reading positive reviews on MyDramaList, I decided to give the film a chance. Here are my thoughts on it.

Release Info

Directed by: Park Hyun Jin Starring: Seo Hyun, Lee Jun Young, Lee El, Kim Bo Ra

Language: Korean Original Title: 모럴센스 Runtime: 117 min

Synopsis
Jung Ji Woo (Seo Hyun) is an efficient and straight-to-the-point worker at a company which promotes toys. Jung Ji Hoo (Lee Jun Young) also works at the same company and he has recently been transferred to Ji Woo’s department. Considering the fact that the two have similar names, it comes as no surprise that Jung Ji Woo accidentally opens a package addressed for Ji Hoo. Consequently, the woman discovers her colleague's personal secret. Namely, he is into BDSM…

Office Secrets
On the basis of the title alone, it is easy to imagine that the film is another studio-made flick filled with NSFW content similar in style to, for instance, Love Clinic (2015). In my opinion, Love and Leashes is worth checking out simply because it does not purely focus on the erotic aspect. The BDSM topic is not introduced to provide relief for porn viewers, but it serves as a metaphor of love relations at a workplace. Is it even possible to fall for a colleague? Is it curiosity or attraction? What about the excitement which comes with the infuatuation?

The erotic scenes are present because they reflect the mental state of the main characters. I noticed that lighting in the movie plays an important part. Daily interactions between Ji Woo and Ji Hoo are accompanied by a variety of vibrant colours (see the hilarious package faux-pas or storage room interaction). However, when they engage in a BDSM role play (either in a hotel room or at an office), they are immediately framed within warm colours.

Obviously, the two leads are ridiculous eye candies. Lee Jun Young is so darn adorable, even when he does not pretend to be a puppy, whereas Seo Hyun is enchanting as an office worker who tries to fill in the mistress’ heels. Unfortunately, the supporting parts are a bit bland and forgettable.

Truth be told, the sexual content in Love and Leashes is very mild. The movie’s focus is romance, and I appreciate it for that, but the final act felt too clichéd. It seemed almost as if the writers ran out of ideas, so they remixed the ending of Working Girl (1988) with Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford, just to wrap up the story.

Recommendations
All in all, I recommend Love and Leashes if you are a fan of the leading actors or if you just want some light entertainment. Nevertheless, the movie has zero rewatch value, at least for me. It is a nicely done one-time comedy.
Overall score: 7/10

«Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us»

250th Review: Hell’s Garden: Office Royale (2021)

Hell’s Garden: Office Royale; or, The Art of Delinquent War
     Your problem is you don't know what you are missing. Dignity. Your fighting lacks elegance. That's not office lady fighting. It is just street fighting.
After catching a break from experiencing “high culture”, I decided to start off the year 2022 with something a bit more mainstream and light-hearted. Following an MDL recommendation, I gave a chance to Kazuaki Seki’s Hell’s Garden: Office Royale. Super colourful poster and actress Mei Nagano were enough to get me hooked.

Release Info

Directed by: Kazuaki Seki Starring: Mei Nagano, Alice Hirose, Nanao, Rina Kawaei, Miyuki Oshima

Language: Japanese Original Title: 地獄の花園 Runtime: 102 min

Synopsis
Naoko Tanaka (Mei Nagano) is a 26-year-old office lady. She tries to perform her tasks as diligently as possible, but little do outsiders of the corporate world know that within big companies there is always a power struggle between factions of office ladies. Similarly to yakuza gangs, they challenge each other and fight for dominance. These battles are put to an end with the arrival of a new OL executive, Ran Hojo (Alice Hirose). The new leader unites rival cliques and even befriends Naoko. All of a sudden, Naoko gets kidnapped by office ladies from another company. Ran rushes to rescue her friend, but she is no match to the opponents. It turns out that Naoko is not as innocent as she looks. To protect Ran, she stands up against power-hungry OLs…

The Way of the Office Lady
I have to say that Hell’s Garden: Office Royale is simple, ridiculous fun all the way through. Because of its witty puns and outrageous battle scenes, I thought the film is based on a particular manga/anime material, but it is actually a love letter to the delinquent heroine genre, which gave us, for instance, Hana no Asuka Gumi.

Think of this film as a mix between Shomuni drama, Tekken game, and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. It’s all about wild extravaganza revolving around the “what-if” scenario of office ladies being skilled warriors.

Some viewers remark that the film is a parody of the original Battle Royale (2000), but I believe this is not the case. One could think such kind of material could easily be turned into an exploitation flick filled with NSFW jokes, but director Kazuaki Seki and screenwriter Bakarhythm approach the issues of rivalry and workplace abuse with utmost gentleness and innocent humour. To me, the movie feels like a pastiche of Enter the Dragon (1973) with regard to the fact that, in both pictures, the main protagonist has to face a series of formidable foes in order to get to the final boss, who is the most powerful one.

As for the performances, well, I tried the film for Mai Nagano, but I stayed for Alice Hirose. The two are just amazing together. I really enjoyed the sweet “friendship” scenes between them as well as the fight sequences. In addition, make sure to be prepared for surprised cameos from veteran actors and actresses, such as Kenichi Endo, Masanobu Katsumura, and Shigeru Muroi. I failed to recognise some of them under tons of make-up!

Recommendations
If you are looking for something to improve your mood, then Hell’s Garden: Office Royale is a very good choice. The movie is funny, yet by no means vulgar. It certainly deserves a sequel or a movie similar in style focusing on some other profession, such as taxi driving or airline services. Please make it happen FujiTV!

Overall score: 9/10

«Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us»