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Director Lee Yoonki has helmed four films, of which three I've seen and now, three I've liked, to various degrees. My Dear Enemy contains a lot of his trademarks from his previous films, such as a free floating plot that follows exactly one character around everywhere, a style of editing that both lingers and cuts short irregularly, a lot of hand-held camera work and a lot of camera movement, and generally very observational character studies.Like his Ad Lib Night, the film is based on a story by Japanese writer Azuko Taira. The film opens with Heesu (Jeon Doyeon) finding her ex- boyfriend, Byeongwoon (Ha Jungwoo) and demanding that he pay back the $3500 he borrowed from her a year ago. Not keen on letting him out of her sight, she convinces him to run around collecting the money he doesn't have. How does he do this? He runs into a number of friends, family and ex-girlfriends (mostly women) and borrows money from them.While the story itself it pretty simple, the characterizations are deep, both with Jeon's terse, uncertain, angry and desperate Heesu and Ha's rambling charming but squirrelly Byeongwoon. The story itself plays out more like a travel/road movie as they make their stops for Byeongwoon to charm a loan out of one of his many female friends (who are possibly more), but as they spend the day together, they see a lot in each other that they might have missed before. Fortunately, the film avoids the too obvious actual romance and while the character development in the film is subtle, it's still altogether present as these two former acquaintances have an affect on each other.That such a simple premise can manage to entertain for the two hour running time is a compliment to the direction and the acting. The acting in particular absolutely had to be top notch because so much of what's communicated is not directly spoken. Heesu in particular communicates more with her body language and facial expressions and even with what she doesn't say over what she does say. Furthermore, Byeongwoon spends a lot of his time talking about various topics rarely directly addressing the actual sentiment behind his small-talk conversation. Both these actors do an impressive job of expressing their characters indirectly. The directing is much like Lee's previous films, with the exception that My Dear Enemy has even greater production values and adds a come-and-go non-diegetic jazz soundtrack, which mildly reminded me of Woody Allen films.I think that My Dear Enemy is fairly successful as a film, but I say that fully knowing that it's also not reaching for a typical experience, being much closer in verve to Lost in Translation than the more cathartic Sideways. It's a film revolving around subtle changes in character and about learning more about people you thought you knew via observing their relationships with others. It will in no way bowl anyone over, but if you're open to Lee's observational approach to drama, you might just find a bit to appreciate in this low-key film. 7/10.
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