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Ji-woo (Ha Jung-woo) and Seh-hee (Park Ji-yeon) are a couple and have
been so for over two years - but Seh-hee is jealous tothe point of
paranoia, and eventually she comes to the conclusion that he would love
her more if she had a new face. And thus she visits a plastic surgeon (Kim
Sung-min) for a complete makeover - who simply cannot believe that a
pretty girl like her wants her face changed, but does it anyhow after all
his attempts to dissuade her failed.
Seh-hee has told Ji-woo nothing about her plastic surgery and has just
abandoned her flat and cancelled her cellphone with the intention of just
winning him back half a year later when the scars from surgery are healed.
However, Ji-woo thinks she has just left him and is crushed - so much so
that all his attempts to get a new girlfriend are doomed to fail ... until
he meets See-hee (Seong Hyeon-a), the new waitress at his favourite café.
The two soon realize they have the same interests, the same favourite
spots - especially a surreal sculpture park -, and they get along just
fine. Soon enough they start a sort-of relationship, too. But then Ji-woo
receives a letter supposed to be from former girlfriend Seh-hee, telling
him where to meet her - and immediately, Ji-woo, realizing he is still in
love with Seh-hee, breaks up with See-hee, leaving her shattered. However,
See-hee is actually Seh-hee after surgery, and now she goes to their
meeting wearing a cut out Seh-hee mask, and throwing insults at him once
he shows up for their meeting - because she can't come to terms with the
fact that he favours her old self over her new self, not realizing of
course tht he just loves her.
All that immediately comes to Ji-woo's mind of course is that Seh-hee
is playing a mean game with him, and he breaks up with her - old self and
new self alike - on the spot ... and later, when he wants to apologize,
she ignores him ... which leads him to some drastic measures: He goes to
Seh-hee's plastic surgeon as well for a new face, but makes sure that
Seh-hee learns about it.
So six months later, when his scars from operation are supposed to have
healed, Seh-hee is looking for Ji-woo, and goes through man after man to
find him, but without success - which drives her to the edge of insanity,
until she believes to have found him in a man who has just died (and lost
his face) in a traffic accident. Shattered, she returns to the plastic
surgeon for yet another face ... and at the end of the film she, all
bandaged up, bumps into her old, original self, in a scene mirroring the
beginning of the film.
On the surface, Time is of course a love story, but it's pretty
much the most twisted, creepy and haunting love story you'll ever see, and
director Kim Ki-duk is just the right man to tell a story of this kind, a
man who self-consciously transcends genre-limitations to tell a good
story, who isn't afraid to add surreal elements to a rather down-to-earth
(if wicked) tale, and who knows how to combine fine imagery with a
compelling, deep and unusual story.
Highest recommendation.
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find Time at adultvideouniverse.com
