It's quite a decent film. I had a lot of reservations, not being interested in asian cinema, but the film was captivationg and well-made. The picture is very nice, great camera work, locations, the story in dynamic and interesting, the actors play well. I'd say the only negative element of it is their voices/intonations, I guess it is a part of the language, but oh my dog please stop whining... 2 hours is a good length, not too long, but the story had the chance to develop. It is quite complex as well, it doesn't drag on one spot. People in the cinema were laughing and gasping a few times, so the drama and depiction of the realities of life is there.
Plot summary
During the 1970s, in Kunchon, there were women divers who were able to dive without equipment, including two best friends Choon-ja and Jin-sook, Jin-sook's brother and Hammer. They always collected seafood under water for living. But, as fewer factories started to be built near the beach, the women divers started to have trouble with what they were doing for living. Without any choice, the ship crews decided to join the smuggling business in the water to seek a way for their living. But the smuggling business in their village got too big for Jin-sook's family to handle and the peaceful village was gradually broken.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
March 02, 2024 at 10:54 AM
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Worth watching
Feisty seawomen dive in for a whacky adventure.
After a chemical plant steals their jobs, rendering the fisherwomen well...out of fish to catch, they indulge in smuggling to meets ends. A gang of 6 women who are expert sea divers start fishing out smuggled goods and their popularity lands them on a bigger hunt. As this dive goes south, both personal loss and betrayal break the women, as one of them escapes while the rest get arrested. Years later, they once again meet for another Fortune but this time more harsh truth gets revealed. How they get their revenge on the ones responsible forms rest of the story.
Setting the story in the 70s, the retro feel is well captured. However, the funky music as well as the cinematography ensures a humorous narrative, the emotional scenes however don't gel well with it. This takes time to get used to the proceedings. Also, a team of six yet only two get full fledged roles which stuck out as a sore thumb. Add to that, the women power initiative leads to the male characters predictable character arc which undermined the reveal.
But to speak of positives, Kim Hye-Soo and Yum Jung-ah single handedly carry this film, making the drama work. Then there is the action sequences, pre-climax and the terrific underwater climax action which instantly made this a paisa vasool watch. The non-linear narrative, going back and forth to make multiple reveals elevated the drama even if the reveals were to be predictable. The whole double cross, triple cross sequence was fun throughout. It is indeed the second half that saves the film, firmly aided by the performances of the duo female leads and the two action sequences.