SYNOPSIS:
Na Jeong-ju at one time dreamt of becoming a glamourous
fashion designer but at the age of 30, she is still struggling
as an assistant. With no romantic life to speak of and being
distrustful of the very concept of love, she blames Jo Hani-
whom she had believed to be her first love and last love-
for messing up her life 12 years earlier. While preparing
for a fashion show one day, Jeong-ju runs into her old high
school friend Oh Tae-hoon and is shocked to find out that
the school nerd has metamorphosed into the hunky CEO of a
successful venture company. In addition, Tae-hoon invites
her to dinner and confesses that she was and always be his
first love. With regrets, Jeong-ju blames her first guy for
messing up her life, a magical gift arrives: the chance to
return to 12 years ago. From there, Jeong-ju embarks on a
plan to go back in time and put Jo Hani out of her life for
good, thereby amending her present. Will the perfect strategy
to change her life succeed?
MOVIE REVIEW:
At
some points of our lives, most people would have wish for
a chance to go back in time to rectify a past mistake. It
could range from a minor embarrassment to a mistake that haunts
a person for a lifetime. Such wishful thinking is obviously
not possible in reality but in movies, we could experience
them via the respective characters on screen and get a perspective
of these 'what if' scenarios.
Project Makeover is one such time traveling film that examines
the possibilities of what if you could return back in time
to correct your past blunder. For Na Jeong-ju, it was the
mistake of falling for the wrong (but popular) guy while disregarding
the sincerity of a nerdy schoolmate (who would have gone on
to become very rich and successful in life). A convenient,
'magical' (and largely unexplained) occurrence enables her
to return back to her school days for that chance of a lifetime.
This time travel tale brought up a few interesting aspects
of human nature to contemplate upon. Could a person convince
her younger self into making the right choice if she had not
walked the path and made the same mistakes? Could you makeover
/ change a person into another persona that he is not? Lastly,
what kind of sacrifices would you make for your true love?
This Korean comedy examines those contemplative issues in
a lighthearted manner, making it entertaining and easy to
sit through the 113mins of screen time. It handles those questions
with a touch of sensibility that applicable in both the movie
world and reality. It dealt with letting go the pains of life
stumbling blocks and move on in rebuilding life. It also has
a bittersweet ending that signify the harsh wakeup call of
reality and yet a beautiful sweet fairytale ending could always
coexist.
Beside those interesting issues about human nature, this movie
also tried to infuse the protagonist’s brush with historic
events and characters (much like what happened in "Forrest
Gump" and "He ain’t heavy, He’s my father").
It can be quite funny if you are aware of the certain various
references’ significant in Korea history. However it
can be a hit and miss as the references are deeply rooted
in the Korean culture. It might not be big on laughs too but
the antics are mildly amusing enough to watch.
The movie also does not overly emphasize on the morale that
they are trying to state. This could be a good thing or bad
thing. Taken in it’s subtlety, it has a life affirming
stance on embracing the mistakes we make in our lifetimes.
Overall, Project Makeover is one of the good Korean dvds to
be released in Singapore by our local distributors and it’s
worth watching.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
There's a mistake in cropping this movie for
the DVD presentation. During the opening credits (which is
quite fancy), some of the credits near the sides were abruptly
cut off. Normally, the cropping errors are not that obvious
but it was irritatingly obvious in this movie as the cinematography
utilizes the extreme sides of the frame to create the scene.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review by Richard Lim Jr
Posted on 10 November 2009
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