It's wonderful in pretty much every way. I think with this film, Chan-wook Park explores his full potential in the realm of levity. To me it feels like a near polar opposite to Oldboy, the director's most famous and beloved film, in its tone. There is such a bouncy and unbridled energy to it, especially in the first half, which strikes me as a far cry from the moodier and more contemplative moments in Oldboy. Watching this film however, it didn't take long to feel that Park channeled the same directing expertise into it which made films like Oldboy and The Handmaiden such masterpieces. For starters, the execution of this film is absolutely mesmerizing. Like his other films, Park's camera seems to adopt more of a role as a spectator than as a mere tool for framing the story. The simpler way of putting it is that it's a sort of fly-on-the-wall feel. The camera glides around scenes effortlessly and takes on a life of its own, like a ghost which haunts the very space of the film. That space by the way, is given the same dream like quality as its peers, with exaggerated saturated colors and lighting which gives the settings a sense of being more fantasy than reality.Of course it's only too fitting that this film should look like a fantasy, because in many ways that is the nature of the story. Because the story centers on a cast of characters which are nearly all delusional, the way that the audience perceives the reality of the film is a reflection of that delusion. What we witness is the experience of these characters, so when they take flight, reduce in size, fire bullets out of their finger tips, and so on, while we understand that it's merely a fantasy, we also understand that for the people in the film it is very much a reality. That I think is ultimately the purpose of this film. While it is ostensibly a quirky comedy about a bunch of crazy people and their wacky adventures, at its core its an empathetic look at delusional people. The juxtaposition of the way the doctors of the mental institution relate to them and the way they relate to each other I think demonstrates the lessons that the film wishes to impart onto its audience. You can't expect to understand the people around you, healthy or sick, if you're not willing to put yourself in their shoes and experience the world in the way that they experience it. Check it out. It's nice.

Young-goon is mentally ill, who imagines herself as a combat cyborg. Her problems are: first, she doesn't want to eat and thinks she needs electricity to be charged; second, she wants to send denture to her grandma, who has already been sent to a mental hospital for thinking she is a rats and eating radish only; third, she needs to figure out what her grandma wants to tell her about the ultimate meaning of living. After she fails to charge herself, Young-goon is also sent to a mental hospital, where she meets a bunch of wardmates with different symptoms but equally powerful imagination. Il-sun is one of them with schizophrenia and kleptomania. believing he can steal everything in the world. Il-sun is to help Young-goon solve her problems and meanwhile pacify his own inner wounds.This story is generally about how the two schizophrenic patients comfort each other and fall in love. Crazy!Chan-Wook Park is the director with his unique style in film language. His works are very recognizable and always with great fun (to some extent, as those of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Wes Anderson). I like Chan-Wook Park's works for their beautiful appearance-jumping cut, flexible camera, bright colors and interesting soundtrack- rather than the story itself. Olyboy, Stoker and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance are all about cruel revenge and are a little too bloody for me. Besides, for me. it's difficult to get why those stories develop and end in a certain crazy way, maybe because I'm just not as crazy as those characters in the stories.But I really enjoy "I'm a Cyborg. But That's OK". Yes, it's still crazy. But who cares how crazy it is, since all the characters live in a mental hospital. We cannot understand their imagination world. Just enjoy! There is no much bloody in this film. Happiness and cruelty are very well balanced.

"I'm a Cyborg But That's OK" is a touching and romantic comedy movie about the sense of life. The movie is set in a mental institution and introduces us to a lot unique characters: a shy man who is always excusing himself, a man who believes his wife is made of fur, a fat woman who thinks she can fly, a strange couple that sings along to traditional Swiss songs by yodelling and so on. While all these characters seem to have some fun and even though the doctors and nurses are mostly nice with them, there are also a few sad scenes when they feel disillusioned and scared and seem to realize that their lives aren't completely normal. The film should have been a little bit longer and shown us a little bit more details about the fate of these characters in my opinion and even several movies or a television series could have been inspired by this film.Let's focus on the main story though. It's basically the story of Young- Goon, a young and shy woman who refuses to eat and is looking for a sense in her life. She grew up with her schizophrenic grandmother who believed she was a mouse and her parents never really took care of her. One day, her grandmother was forced to go to a mental institution but obviously not the same as Young-Goon's. The schizoid young woman has never seen her grandmother again. She misses her a lot and wants to bring her dentures she forgot at home when she was taken away by the staff of the mental institution. Since then, Young-Goon also desires to avenge her grandmother and kill all staff members of all mental institutions. Young-Goon believes she is a cyborg that needs to be recharged to gain enough power to realize her plans which is dangerous for people around her and especially for herself.In the mental institution, she meets Il-Soon who is hospitalized for kleptomania stemming from schizophrenia. The anti-social thief is a very emotional and smart person who immediately falls in love with the mysterious Young-Goon. When she is about to die by refusing to eat, he tries to protect her from herself and the staff. When he learns that she believes she is a cyborg, he develops a plan to make her eat by developing a fictional machine that converts food into electrical energy. But the young man soon has to develop further plans to protect the love of her life when she starts to believe that she is in fact a nuke bomb that requires a bolt of lightning to detonate and bring the end to the world.While the story lacks direction and feels fluffy at times, this fact isn't important as the movie is about something completely different. It wants to show us that even people in a mental hospital can be very and sometimes even more human than normal people and feel sorrow, love and hate very intensively. The way the two outsiders of the group come closer to each other is far beyond physical love. Her love story begins very slowly and at the beginning, the young woman doesn't really care about or even realize what the young man feels for her. He slowly wins her heart by each step he takes and by doing so he doesn't only heal himself in a certain way and becomes more open-minded, responsible and social than ever before but he also saves the life of the woman he desires and gives a new sense to her sad life.This movie is really touching and convinces with a strong and credible acting. The movie though doesn't only focus on the drama elements or the romantic story with profound dialogues but it also includes several moments of intelligent humour and a few action filled over-the-top scenes that break with the slow pace of the movie and feel very original and refreshing. The movie surely has some lengths and I think the film should have spend some more time on the supporting characters instead of the main story that only truly develops in the last third of the movie. On the other side, this movie is very intelligent from an emotional and human point of view and has a beautiful philosophy telling us that each day of our life is unique and that something very positive could happen any day that gives your life a new sense or unknown joys. This is a movie that any really sad or suicidal person should watch because it says more than a thousand words could do. Director Park Chan-Wook who is known for completely different movies like "Oldboy" created a truly courageous and unexpected gem that may one day be hailed as a classic. It's not a movie for anybody. At first try, I didn't adore the movie but I didn't stop thinking about and rediscovering it to get access to its pure and unique beauty. Patient and open-minded viewers should get rewarded by watching this film. Those who are looking for quick entertainment, a classic love story or a hilarious movie should change their minds before watching this.

I had never heard of this South Korean film before and I was pleasantly surprised by it. I found it very charming with some great subtle use of CGI to illustrate the inner thoughts of the main characters. I know there are a few out there that fear the subtitle and for those I'm afraid your worst fears may be realised… It does have subtitles. For me, not usually a problem, but I did struggle to follow the plot at the beginning, it soon settled down though and easy reading from then on. I'll give you my thoughts after this brief summary.Young woman, Cha Young-goon has been sent to a mental institution. Her grandmother had been sent into care sometime earlier and, it seems, this had tipped her over the edge. She keeps it a secret, but she believes she is a Cyborg and she has to rescue her grandmother. In order to do that though, she must relieve herself of all thoughtfulness, sympathy…etc. She is befriended by Park Il-sun, another patient who has a habit of stealing things. The staff becomes worried about Young-goon when she refuses to eat. They lock her away but Il-sun has fallen in love with her and may be able to help her. I will leave it there or the Spoiler Police will be fitting cybernetic implants to me (again).I love the subtle use of CGI in this film, you can tell a lot of hard work and imagination has been applied to make it look so good. It's a film full of interesting characters and great performances, but the two that stood out were Su-jeong Lim as Cha Young-goon and Rain as Park Il-sun. Both were really excellent, particularly Su-jeong Lim, her performance was quite stunning.This is a very engaging and charming film with lots of subtle plot twists that keep the audience guessing. It is essentially a love story, but one with a difference and one that (I hope) others will enjoy as much as I did. Great acting, great direction and great production, although it's not altogether perfect; I've already mentioned the slightly confusing beginning; I still enjoyed it very much though. It's another of a growing number of South Korean films I am discovering and long may it continue… Recommended.My score: 7.7/10.IMDb Score: 7.0/10 (based on 8,808 votes at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: 90/100 (based on 10 reviews counted at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 80/100 (based on 11,824 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).